Source · Select Committees · Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee
Recommendation 51
51
Accepted in Part
Explore using existing government data to identify voters needing assistance at polling stations.
Recommendation
The Government should explore whether existing data held by the Government could be used to allow those most likely to be in need of assistance to be contacted. This information should be used to better inform returning officers of the equipment that may be needed in particular polling stations. (Recommendation, Paragraph 130) Voter ID and voter fraud
Government response summary AI-generated
The government agrees to explore how existing government data might be used to identify and contact voters needing assistance and to inform returning officers, acknowledging data protection considerations and stating it will consider this further.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted in Part
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
Read the full response on Parliament ↗