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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what percentage of candidates in the May 2022 council elections have a disability; and what plans they have (1) to enable, and (2) to assist, disabled candidates (a) to participate in local elections, and (b) to serve as councillors.

It is the Government’s ambition to see more disabled people in public office.

DLUHC do not hold or collect data centrally on percentages of candidates standing for local election. However, DLUHC has developed a new scheme to support disabled people seeking to become local candidates and to support those who have been elected to local public office. This work is a part of the 2022/23 local government improvement programme, delivered largely by the LGA, launched in April this year.

The scheme includes:

• a coaching programme for disabled councillors to support them as resilient and confident leaders of their communities
• a campaign to attract more people with disabilities to stand for council elections and a new ‘Be a Councillor’ guide for disabled candidates who are considering standing for the 2023 elections
• a bespoke leadership development programme for disabled councillors, which provides councillors with unique networking opportunities and support.

The full 2022-2023 Sector Support Offer for local councils is available (attached) on the LGA website: https://local.gov.uk/publications/sector-support-offer-2022-23