Large print - 1st Report - Access to the House of Commons and its Procedures

Key findings

• The Palace of Westminster, with only 12% step-free access, 65 floor levels, and 100+ staircases, creates daily barriers for disabled users; maintenance costs £1.45m weekly and poses fire, flood and structural risks.
• Disabled MPs and staff report widespread difficulties: heavy doors requiring assistance, inaccessible toilets, non-functioning lifts, poor lighting, and glass doors without contrast markings; some staff waited 13 months for four doors to be automated.
• Institutional culture expects disabled people to adapt to premises rather than Parliament adapting to them; security processes function as barriers rather than welcomes, with inconsistent application of reasonable adjustments.
• The House Administration has established an Accessibility Group and Members Accessibility Group, developed workplace adjustment passports, and commissioned accessibility audits identifying 410 short-term improvements.
• Committee recommends: external accessibility advisory group publishing annual reports; transparency in audit responses via annual business plans; text-message option for safety reporting; deferred divisions on electronic systems; accessible formats including Easy Read; mandatory disability awareness training for line managers; and accessibility as stated strategic priority.

Recommendations

• Establish an External Accessibility Advisory Group with disabled people's organisations to publish annual reports to the House of Commons Commission.
• Include summary of progress against accessibility audit recommendations in the Strategic Estates team's Annual Business Plan with appropriate confidentiality protections.
• Advertise on intranet and annunciators when accessible entrances/exits are out of use and clearly signpost alternatives.
• Implement text-message option to report urgent security or safety concerns, complementing the telephone line, and communicate via annual essentials training.
• Move deferred divisions from paper system to electronic pass readers to improve voting accessibility.
• Discuss with Clerk of the House and whips reconfiguring the Reasons Room to allow some MPs to vote there rather than in the Lobbies.
• Consider introducing a 'Reasonable Adjustments card' scheme to reserve specific seats in the chamber for disabled MPs.
• Embed accessibility as a strategic priority in the House Administration's strategy and under the organisational value of being 'inclusive'.
• Make disability awareness training mandatory for all line managers to ensure teams prioritise accessibility.
• Run a communications campaign to raise awareness of accessibility importance and priority within the House.
• Expand current glossary pages and accessible guides to Parliamentary business and incorporate into other documents.
• Increase production of accessible formats such as Easy Read by considering bringing production in-house.
• Review speaker and screen placement in House Commons public gallery to meet disabled visitors' needs and provide accessible subtitling during debates.
• Write to Restoration and Renewal Client Board to emphasise that accessibility must remain key priority for renovated Palace on any option chosen.
• Ensure consistent and clear communication about informal arrangements for reasonable adjustments via Speaker and Deputy Speakers' authority.

Key actors

Sir Alan Campbell MP, Marianne Cwynarski CBE, Tom Goldsmith, Margaret McKinnon, Marsha De Cordova MP, Marie Tidball MP, Baroness Brinton, House of Commons Administration