areas effective on 1 June 1994, and each constituency was entirely within a region or a grouping of two or entirely within an islands area or a grouping of two. However, under the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994, the regions and districts were abolished in favour of new council areas in 1996, the year before the new constituencies were first used in an election. 1997 boundaries were used also in the 2001 general election. 2005 to present The results of the Fifth Periodical Review became effective in Scotland for the 2005 general election. The review defined 19 burgh constituencies and 40 county constituencies, with each electing one MP. Therefore, Scotland has 59 parliamentary seats. Each constituency is entirely within a council area or a grouping of two or three council areas. Proposed changes The Boundary Commission for Scotland submitted their final proposals in respect of the Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies (the 2018 review) in September 2018. Although the proposals were immediately laid before Parliament they were not brought forward by the Government for approval. Accordingly, they did not come into effect for the 58th general election which took place on 12 December 2019, and which was contested using the constituency boundaries in place since 2010. Under the terms of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011, the Sixth Review was based on reducing the total number of MPs from 650 to 600 and a strict electoral parity requirement that the electorate of all constituencies should be within a range of 5% either side of the electoral quota. On 24 March 2020, the Minister of State for the Cabinet Office, Chloe Smith, issued a written statement to Parliament setting out the Government's thinking with regard to parliamentary boundaries. Subsequently, the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020 was passed into law on 14 December. This formally removed the duty to implement the 2018 review and set out the framework for future boundary reviews. The Act provided that the number of constituencies should remain at the current level of 650, rather than being reduced to 600, while retaining the requirement that the electorate should be no more than +/- 5% from the electoral quota. The Act specified that the next review should be completed no later than 1 July 2023 and the Boundary Commission formally launched the 2023 review on 5 January 2021. The Commission calculated that the number of seats