Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help increase voter registration amongst people with disabilities before the next general election.

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) continues to take steps to support the participation of disabled people in the electoral process.

This includes making registering to vote as easy and accessible as possible. Major reforms to our electoral registration system have resulted in record levels of electors registering to vote and participating in our democracy. The online Register to Vote service is also accredited as WCAG AA for online accessibility, which is in line with the Government Digital Service (GDS) service standard targets for GOV services.

It is the responsibility of individual Electoral Registration Officers (ERO) to ensure the registration of all eligible people, and of EROs and the Electoral Commission to raise awareness of how to register. Recognising those responsibilities, DLUHC works closely with organisations representing disabled people and the electoral sector. This includes convening the Accessibility of Elections Working Group, which includes representatives from across the UK and gives a focus to work to support the participation of disabled people in the electoral process.

The Electoral Commission's 2019 report on the accuracy and completeness of electoral registers in Great Britain indicated that 'people with a long-standing physical condition or disability are more likely to be registered (92%) than those without a disability (82%), or those with a longstanding mental condition or disability (83%).'