1. What preparations has the Commission put in place regarding the extension of the franchise for Senedd elections, despite the coronavirus pandemic? OQ55359

Since 1 June, young people who will be 16 or 17 years old when the Senedd elections next year are held can register to vote. The Commission has created education resources to help young people to understand how our democracy works. These were available on Hwb—the Welsh Government's digital learning and teaching platform—ahead of the opening of registration on 1 June, and additional resources appropriate for use in a number of settings, including for home schooling, will be added shortly. The Commission has written to schools to offer the usual online outreach services, ensuring that the education and engagement team continues to offer direct engagement during this pandemic period. 

Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Thank you very much. It's very pleasing to see that there's been such progress on this work at such an incredibly difficult time, when the staff of the Commission have had so many pressures on them. It's also, of course, been very pleasing to see the Youth Parliament continuing its work. Have you been able to make or will you be able to make any assessment about what the registration rate is for that group of young people? Will we be able to know, perhaps by the autumn, where people are registering and where they're not, and might that then be a case for the Commission targeting its resources further if we find that, with particular groups of young people or in particular geographical areas, we haven't got the levels of registration that we would all wish to see?

Well, that's an excellent point that you make. Of course, we will want to keep an eye on the level of registrations by young people. This is a challenging time for everyone as regards carrying out this work, and particularly for local authorities, who are responsible for this registration work on a practical level. So, we do seek to provide local government with as much flexibility as possible during this current time, but, as we move towards the autumn and winter, we will have to look at the numbers that have already registered and see how those patterns are emerging. Where further work is needed, we will work with the Welsh Government, the Electoral Commission and local government in order to ensure that that further work is done so that every young person in Wales is aware of the new right that they will have next year to vote in the Senedd Cymru elections.