Easy Read - 1st Report - Access to the House of Commons and its Procedures

Key findings

• Disabled MPs and staff report difficulty performing their jobs due to inaccessible buildings and feel unable to work as effectively as non-disabled colleagues.
• The House of Commons Administration can significantly improve accessibility; some progress has been made including a new Members Accessibility Group and a reasonable adjustments system.
• The Palace of Westminster, built hundreds of years ago, presents substantial physical barriers; procedures are also outdated and hard for disabled people to follow.
• Workplace culture currently does not consistently include everyone or ensure disabled staff have what they need to succeed.
• Current systems lack transparency—accessibility audits occur but recommendations are not systematically tracked in business plans or reported publicly.

Recommendations

• Establish an advisory group comprising disabled people's organisations and accessibility experts to guide improvements and produce a detailed accessibility report.
• Require House of Commons Administration to publish in yearly business plans how they will act on accessibility audit recommendations.
• Provide online information about accessible entrances and exits when they are broken or unavailable, with locations of alternatives.
• Offer text-based reporting for serious safety problems as an alternative to calling, with public communication of the service.
• Mandate accessibility training for all staff, with specialist training for team leaders on supporting disabled and neurodiverse colleagues.
• Designate accessibility as a strategic priority and require the Clerk and Director General to report progress within one year.
• Train staff to proactively ask visitors about support needs and sunflower lanyards; communicate accessible toilets and building navigation options.
• Increase staff education on accessibility importance within six months.
• Clarify in House of Commons guidance for Members how to request reasonable adjustments.
• Digitise deferred divisions instead of using paper-based systems.
• Enable disabled MPs to vote in a quieter alternative room; permit continued use of nodding-through arrangements.
• Ask the Serjeant at Arms to explore a seating-need card for disabled MPs as an alternative to prayer cards.
• Relocate speakers and screens in the public gallery and expand use of subtitles in debates.
• Increase use of parliamentary glossary in documents and create easy-read, large-print, braille, and audio versions of guidance with disabled people's input.
• Explore in-house production of accessible formats (easy read, braille, audio, large print, BSL) and establish ongoing dialogue with disabled groups; report progress within one year.

Key actors

Modernisation Committee, House of Commons Administration, Members of Parliament, Clerk of the House, Director General, Speaker, Serjeant at Arms, disabled people's organisations