Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government has taken to evaluate the effectiveness of the Access to Elected Office fund between 2010 and 2015.

The evaluation of the three-year pilot will consider the extent to which the fund removed barriers to disabled people’s participation in public life. The independent Administrator of the Fund is preparing a report with data on demand, the different types of support that applicants required, and the extent to which funding helped them compete on level terms with other candidates. Applicants have been invited to complete an online survey, the results of which are being collated. The report will be completed this month, when final claims have been settled for candidates who stood in the May 2015 General Election and Local Authority elections.