Last week, the Government launched its Access to Elected Office strategy. Barry Ginley, one of the Ambassadors from the Strengthening DPULOs Programme, attended the launch, and has written the post below explaining what it is. For more information, visit the Access to Elected Office strategy website.
On Monday 9 July I attended the launch of the Access to Elected Office Strategy where Lynne Featherstone (Minister for Equalities) and Maria Miller (Minister for Disabled People) outlined the strategy.
The Strategy has been designed to level the playing field for potential disabled candidates and tackle the currently low levels of disabled people in political life. As part of this Strategy, the government has:
- Set up a new £2.6m fund to help disabled people who plan to stand for elections with the extra disability-related costs
- Provided new training and development opportunities for people who are interested in a political career, including launching an introductory online training course and paid internships on the Speaker’s Parliamentary Placement scheme
- Produced new online guidance on reasonable adjustments to help political parties meet their legal obligations under the Equality Act 2010.
The fund will be open for applications until March 2014. It will help disabled candidates meet the additional costs they may face compared to a non-disabled person in standing for election, such as extra transport costs or sign language interpreters.
For more information about the Access to Elected Office Strategy, please visit the website.
To find out more about the work of DPULO Ambassadors, including Barry Ginley, please visit the Strengthening DPULOs Programme website.
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