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

Key findings

• The Palace of Westminster offers step-free access to only 12% of the building; heavy doors, unmarked steps, glass doors, and poor lighting create daily barriers for disabled MPs and staff.
• Disabled MPs report the voting process, seating arrangements, and accessing key spaces (Library, Press Gallery, Table Clerks' dais) are physically inaccessible and require problematic workarounds.
• Parliamentary culture implicitly expects disabled people to adapt to the institution rather than vice versa; lack of proactive support and inconsistent application of reasonable adjustments persist.
• The House Administration has begun action via a new Accessibility Group, Members Accessibility Group, and Workplace Adjustment Passports, but these improvements are overdue and accountability mechanisms are absent.
• Accessibility must be embedded as a strategic organisational priority with mandatory disability awareness training for line managers, annual accessibility audit progress reports, and external expert scrutiny.

Recommendations

• Establish an External Accessibility Advisory Group including organisations representing disabled people, tasked with reviewing feedback on parliamentary services, to publish annual reports to the House of Commons Commission.
• Publish annual summaries of progress against accessibility audit recommendations in the Strategic Estates team's Annual Business Plan to ensure transparency and accountability.
• Advertise on intranet and annunciator screens when accessible entrances/exits are out of service, with clear signposting of alternatives.
• Implement text message option for reporting urgent security or safety concerns, communicated via annual essentials training.
• Move deferred divisions from paper-based system to electronic pass readers to improve voting accessibility.
• Discuss with the Clerk of the House and whips reconfiguring the Reasons Room to allow some MPs to vote there rather than walking through Lobbies.
• Consider a 'Reasonable Adjustments card' scheme to reserve seats in the chamber for disabled MPs requiring specific positions.
• Expand glossary pages and accessible guides; produce more parliamentary documents in Easy Read and other accessible formats; consider bringing accessible format production in-house.
• Review placement of speakers and screens in the public gallery to meet disabled visitors' needs; explore accessible subtitling for debates.
• Make accessibility a strategic priority in the House Administration's strategy document and organisational values; implement mandatory disability awareness training for line managers.
• Run a communications campaign raising awareness of accessibility as an organisational priority.
• Ensure Restoration and Renewal Programme prioritises accessibility in any chosen option.

Key actors

Modernisation Committee, Marianne Cwynarski (Director General, House Commons Administration), Tom Goldsmith (Clerk of the House), Margaret McKinnon (Director, Members and Members Staff Services Team), Marsha De Cordova MP, Marie Tidball MP, Restoration and Renewal Delivery Authority