, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Yes, definitely. I'm really keen to involve the committee, because I recognise that there's so much lived experience within this committee, but also in the Chamber, from people who have previously been county councillors. We've got people who are still town…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
I think this is one of the dangers that we have to be really mindful of in the sense that we're putting an awful lot of effort into supporting people to take that first step into becoming an elected member—so the kind of work that we talked about earlier, the…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
I think that they definitely have the potential to, and I think that any of us who have been involved in those mentoring schemes have found that the person who we've mentored has gained an awful lot from it. Speaking for myself, I gained an awful lot from it…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Morning, Jayne.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
I didn't see you over there, Jayne. [Laughter.] It took me by surprise.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
The original legislation was very simple in the sense that it only requires the person to hear and be heard, and that can be just a phone. That was partly in recognition, really, that the town and community council sector is so diverse that we just need to be…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
I'll just hand over to Lisa in a second on that one, but just in terms of our next steps, that really is about looking at how we potentially extend job sharing to non-executive roles, for example committee chairs. So, that's where our focus is at the moment…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
It shouldn't be, because those members will still have the same scrutiny, the same kind of level of responsibility as any other member of the cabinet. So, that shouldn't be the case. But I appreciate it is still early days, so we need to keep constantly…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Well, I would say that it's still early days yet. The opportunity hasn't been there for a long time. But we have seen as many as five councils using it since it's been brought in, at any one time. So, I think that that is certainly positive. I think that, as…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Exciting.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Challenging?
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
So, I think there are two things, really. The first is what we can do as Welsh Government, and part of that is around some of the steps that I spoke about in my first answer, so, the hybrid meetings: we know that women often find it easier to attend hybrid…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
You've touched on another really important point that I'm keen to make some progress on as well, and that is around the number of uncontested seats. Obviously, that was really of concern at the last elections for the town and community councils, as well as…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Well, I'm glad you raised that, because I read the same thing about politicians being expected to have a thicker skin, and then I got straight back to officials and I said, 'What?' We shouldn't be expected to have a thicker skin, because anybody should be…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Just a couple of other initiatives to let you know about, we're working closely with the WLGA and One Voice Wales to promote training on the code of conduct, including, obviously, the duty on political group leaders, and also working with councils through our…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Yes, I think so, and I think that also it's not just on group leaders, it's about the local authority more widely. We know that there have been recent examples where the monitoring officer, for example, has brought all councillors together to remind them of…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
So, I think that one of the things that we have to remember, which is hard to remember sometimes with so much abuse in politics—. When women or others with protected characteristics are thinking about entering politics—and men are not immune from abuse in…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
So, maybe I'll ask Lisa to say a bit more about the support that we provide to candidates, or that is provided to candidates, immediately after elections, and some of the thinking that we’re doing around mandatory training and perhaps about the code of…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
I do find it disappointing that we have seen a decrease recently in the number of candidates who are completing the candidate survey, because it is a really important source of information for us, not least in terms of understanding diversity in democracy. We…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
That came through really strongly in the evaluation, that people just didn't know. It was a new fund, to be fair, so people didn't know that it existed. Word of mouth was really important, which, again, is why that network is important. But, yes, there's…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
It wasn't limited, so as many who wanted to access it and were eligible would have been able to.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
Disability Wales administered the fund for us, and I think that they're very much seen as a trusted organisation within the sector. As well as being able to support people to access physical support to be a candidate, they were also able to provide lots of…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
We're legislating as well to ensure that the access to elected office fund continues, which I think is important. That was part of the White Paper that we published a while back.
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
We published the evaluation of the working of the fund on Tuesday of this week, and it did conclude that the arrangements that we've put in place were very much welcomed and that there was very clear support that the fund should be continued in future. But…
, Local Government and Housing Committee
Diversity in Local Government - Evidence from the Minister for Finance and Local Government
I think it's our role, really, to make sure that councils have the information and advice that they would need about the process and the support available to them, rather than trying to necessarily influence the decision that the council comes to, because of…
