Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that schools and academies release premises for use as polling stations during elections.

Legislation provides that the responsibility for designating polling places rests with local authorities. At elections, returning officers will establish polling stations within the polling places. The legislation also provides that the returning officer may use, free of charge, a room in a school, which receives public funding, for the purpose of the poll.

Local authorities are required to keep the designated polling places under review. We encourage local authorities to work to ensure that suitable buildings and locations are chosen as polling places.