Glossary
Assistant Commissioner Independent person appointed at the request of the BCE to assist it with the discharge of its functions.
Borough constituency (abbreviated to BC) The designation for a Parliamentary constituency containing a predominantly urban area.
County constituency (abbreviated to CC) The designation for a Parliamentary constituency containing more than a small rural element.
Designation Official classification as either a borough constituency or a county constituency. The designation of a constituency guides the determination of who the returning officer will be, and determines how much candidates can spend, in any election for that constituency.
Electorate The number of registered Parliamentary electors in a given area.
(Statutory/Permitted) Electorate range The statutory rule that requires the electorate of every recommended constituency to be – for the 2023 Review – between 69,724 and 77,062.
Final recommendations The recommendations submitted in a formal final report to Parliament at the end of a review. They may – or may not – have been revised since the initial proposals in any given area.
Initial proposals First formal proposals published by the BCE during the review for public consultation.
Periodical report Report to Parliament following a general review of Parliamentary constituencies.
Places of deposit In each constituency the Commission will make available hard copies of its revised proposals (including report and maps). The places of deposit where the public may inspect the proposals are usually the offices of the relevant local authority, although other public places such as libraries may be used. The Commission will publish a full list of places of deposit on its website.
Public hearing Formal opportunity during the secondary consultation period for people to make oral representations, chaired by an Assistant Commissioner.
Representations The views provided by an individual, group or organisation to the BCE on its initial or revised proposals (or on the representations of others), either for or against, including counter-proposals and petitions.
Review date The ‘effective date’ at which electorate and local government boundary data is fixed so that we can then work with it on a stable basis. Defined by the 2020 Act for the 2023 Review as 2 March 2020 for the electorate numbers, and 1 December 2020 for local government boundaries.
Revised proposals The initial proposals as subsequently revised.
Rules The statutory criteria for Parliamentary constituencies recommended by a Parliamentary Boundary Commission, as set out in Schedule 2 to the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986 (as amended by Acts up to and including the 2020 Act).
UK electoral quota The average number of electors in a constituency, found by dividing the total electorate of the UK (less that of the five specific ‘protected’ constituencies in the UK) by 645.
Unitary authority An area where there is only one tier of ‘principal area’ local council (above any parish or town council). Contrasted with those ‘shire district’ areas that have two tiers (i.e. both a non-metropolitan county council and a district/borough/city council).