Parliament Education and Engagement Outreach Service

Motion Text

That this House recognises the Parliamentary outreach service delivers in-person democratic engagement workshops to audiences in schools, colleges and adult community settings; acknowledges the work of the outreach team in engaging with disadvantaged and hard to reach audiences across the regions and nations of the UK; welcomes the outreach team’s contribution of 52% of the 2025-26 Participation direct engagement target for school aged children; notes that the outreach team is supportive of the Savings and Improvement Programme target of a 10% budget reduction; is therefore deeply concerned by the proposal to disband the outreach service, and replace with a smaller London based team delivering online school sessions only; is further concerned this will negatively impact accessibility, inclusion and undermine trust in Parliament for people living in the regions and nations; and therefore calls for a pause on this decision to allow for new efficiency and cost saving proposals to be considered.