“To ask the Right hon. Member for Kenilworth and Southam, representing the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission, what assessment the Electoral Commission has made of the potential merits of introducing legal protections for the use of minority languages in election materials.”
Asked by
Perran Moon
Answering Minister
the Right hon. Member for Kenilworth and Southam, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission
Answer from Hansard
Sir Jeremy Wright (Kenilworth and Southam)
The Electoral Commission has made no formal assessment of this. It would be a matter for Parliament to introduce such legal protections. It is prescribed in law that poll cards and ballot papers must be provided in English or Welsh, but there are no other prescribed language requirements relating to election materials. The commission translates voter materials, including voter registration forms, into a range of languages, informed by census data and community insights on voter needs.