Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 7
7
Deferred
Overhaul political education in England urgently, ahead of the next general election
Conclusion
We welcome consideration of political education as part of the Department for Education curriculum review. But what is needed is a complete overhaul of political education in the UK, particularly within England. The Government has committed in its manifesto to introduce votes at 16. That would provide an opportunity for a new approach to be considered. However, regardless of whether this change is delivered, a new approach should be undertaken as a matter of urgency so that it is in place ahead of the next general election. (Recommendation, Paragraph 35)
Government Response Summary
The government deflects this recommendation on political education by discussing its commitment to ensuring accessible voting for disabled electors and improving awareness of available support, and also briefly mentioning exploring the use of existing data. It does not address political education.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
We agree that all electors should be provided with or be able to easily access information relevant to them with regards to elections. This is particularly pertinent where electors may need specific or additional support, such as with some disabled electors. Legislation places requirements on both the Electoral Commission and those administering elections to work to provide support to disabled electors. The Government’s evaluation of the implementation of the Elections Act 2022, conducted by independent research agency IFF Research and published in May 2025, concluded that while there was evidence that support and equipment is being provided to enable disabled people to vote in polling stations, awareness among disabled electors of the support and equipment available to them was relatively low. Therefore, we agree with the Committee’s recommendation that more should be done to raise awareness, and we will continue to work with the Electoral Commission and local authorities to support communications. Further, the Government’s Accessibility of Elections Working Group provides a forum to promulgate awareness via representative organisations working with disabled people, the elections delivery sector and other relevant groups and governments across the nations of the UK. The use of data already held by organisations is subject to data protection provisions relating to the basis on which it was collected. However, we are keen to investigate ways in which existing data held by the Government may be used–as was previously done with information on sight loss registers–and will be considering this further. Voter Identification & Voter Fraud