Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department plans to mark the centenary of women getting the right to vote in 1918.

The Government is funding a programme of activity in England to mark this anniversary, under the leadership of the Government Equalities Office. Programme themes include “celebrate”, “inspire” and “remember” to increase national awareness and mark 100 years since women got the right to vote. They also include “educate” to increase young people’s knowledge of UK democracy and its importance, and increase their democratic participation. The final theme is “participate” to aspire to achieve gender parity in local and national politics by the centenary of the Equal Franchise Act by 2028.

The Cabinet Office is helping to deliver this programme by leading on a number of projects under the “educate” theme. These are aimed at young people aged between 13 and 16 and at tackling barriers to their democratic participation. Planned projects include developing a secondary schools resource, working with the Department for Education, and a scheme to recruit and train youth democracy ambassadors. We are also developing a pack with ideas and materials for parliamentarians to engage young people, particularly those who are disengaged with our democratic processes.

Within the Cabinet Office we are planning an events programme throughout 2018 to commemorate the centenary and champion equality, helping to ensure we make the Civil Service and Cabinet Office ever more inclusive.