§ 33. Mr. Simon Thomas (Ceredigion)What training is being provided for electoral officers on ensuring the full participation of people with disabilities in the electoral process. [53994]
§ Mr. A. J. Beith (representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission)The commission will fund the development and provision of training for electoral services staff in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland before next year's elections to the Scottish Parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the National Assembly for Wales. The training programme is expected to deal with methods of ensuring access for people with disabilities to the electoral process. Later this year, the commission will also publish a series a good practice handbooks, which include advice on the matter.
§ Mr. ThomasI thank the right hon. Gentleman for that reply and emphasise that it is welcome that the 500 commission is taking the issue seriously and engaging in training before the elections in Wales and Scotland. What lessons have been learned from the English local elections? Did postal voting encourage more disabled people to participate? What elements of training to encourage people with disabilities to take up alternative ways of voting do the commission propose?
§ Mr. BeithI hope that information on this will emerge from the evaluation that the commission is carrying out into the various experiments and pilots that were conducted at the local elections. I know that the commission is keen to work with organisations such as Scope, the Royal National Institute for the Blind and the Disability Rights Commission to develop policies in this area, and to identify the issues that need to be tackled.