Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2014 to Question 210906, what criteria will be used to evaluate the Access to Elected Office Fund.

The assessment of the fund’s effectiveness will involve users of the fund, the Independent Administrator and the Access to Elected Office for Disabled People Stakeholder Group, which includes disability organisations, political parties and the Local Government Association. We have not planned for the formal involvement of the Speaker’s Conference on Parliamentary Representation, which existed from 2008 – 2010, however I was a member of that Speaker’s Conference and I am happy to hear views from any member of the House on how the fund is working.

The Government has not published criteria for the assessment; however, it will focus on the extent to which the fund removes barriers to disabled people’s participation in public life. The assessment will draw on a range of data gathered by the independent fund administrator, including demand and the different types of support applicants require. The fund will provide support up to and including the General Election and it will be for the next Government to judge the fund’s effectiveness and whether and how it should be extended.