§ Baroness Galeasked Her Majesty's Government:
What measures they are taking to increase the representation of women in the House of Commons and local government to a level more like that seen in the elections to the National Assembly for Wales in 2003.
§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal)My Lords, the Government are committed to working towards gender equality throughout society, including in political life, and we are delighted that the people of Wales have chosen to elect women to 50 per cent of seats in the National Assembly for Wales. To facilitate progress towards increasing women's representation in government, we introduced the Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Act 2002, which allows political parties to take positive measures towards women's increased participation.
§ Baroness GaleMy Lords, I say thank you and diolch yn fawr to my noble friend. As everyone knows, Welsh is the language of heaven and I am very pleased to bring a touch of heaven to your Lordships' House.
My noble friend is aware that the Welsh Assembly is the only legislature in the world to have women as 50 per cent of its members. Is she further aware that the Cabinet in the Welsh Assembly has a majority of women and is, again, the only such institution in the world to have such a majority? Bearing in mind that, since 1918, only 253 women have been elected to the House of Commons and that only a minority of women serve in local government, does she agree that drastic measures are needed to ensure that the percentage of women in local government and the House of Commons is increased? If such measures are not taken, we will probably have to wait several centuries. Some of us will not be able to hang around that long.
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalMy Lords, I congratulate my noble friend on her perseverance and because it is St David's Day. It is a great achievement for Wales to have the first elected legislature anywhere with 50 per cent representation by women. We in the House of Lords can be quite proud of our record. Seven out of the 21 members of the Labour Front Bench are women, and the figures are 10 out of 32 for 434 the Conservatives and 11 out of 37 for the Liberal Democrats. Opportunities are certainly being taken in this House.
§ Baroness Miller of HendonMy Lords, I declare a long-time interest in the 300 Group, of which I am a member and was an executive officer for many years. Does the noble Baroness agree with the policy about which I used to say, "We don't want any woman elected just because she's a woman, but we don't want her rejected because she's a woman"? Does she further agree that most constituencies want and deserve the very best candidate to be their MP, whatever their religion, race or gender? Our policies at least produced the first female Leader of the House of Lords and the first female Prime Minister.
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalMy Lords, I wholeheartedly agree that we want people of merit and quality. We think that we have achieved that; the Labour Government have an extremely good record in that regard.
§ Lord Lester of Herne HillMy Lords, does the Minister agree that if one looks across the legislatures of the democratic world, one finds that in those countries that have a form of proportional representation women—and, indeed, ethnic minorities—do better than in those countries with first past the post, such as this country and the United States?
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalMy Lords, that has been a hotly contentious issue for a number of years. I cannot necessarily agree with the noble Lord, but I understand why he says so.
§ Lord SkelmersdaleMy Lords, will the noble Baroness tell us whether women in the National Assembly for Wales are under-representative of the proportion of male to female adult voters in Wales?
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalMy Lords, I do not believe that that is so, although I understand why the noble Lord would say that. Roughly 50 per cent of the population is male and roughly 50 per cent female, and the noble Lord will say that it would be disproportionate if the Welsh Assembly had more women than men. If one looks at quality and merit, the figures are clear.
§ Lord SkelmersdaleMy Lords, the noble Baroness misunderstood my question. I was asking whether women were under-represented, not over-represented, in the National Assembly.
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalMy Lords, I do not believe that they are, but I shall write to the noble Lord if I am wrong about that.
§ Lord Smith of CliftonMy Lords, further to my noble friend's question about proportional representation, the proof is in the fact that the 435 National Assembly for Wales has an element of proportional representation. That is probably why it has done so well in terms of the number of women elected to it.
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalMy Lords, I hear what the noble Lord says, but it is really the policy that has been implemented—the positive action measures taken, the political parties, and the primary use of twinning by Labour, which was very successful. No country has ever achieved a significant increase in women's representation without positive action. The Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Act 2002 allowed that positive action to be taken, and Wales has demonstrated what can be done if one tries.
§ Baroness Howe of IdlicoteMy Lords, does the Minister agree that it might be an idea to set some targets in the matter? They should not be about positive discrimination, although targets are popular with this Government. Will they also compare the number of women in both Houses and local government with those in the top 100 FTSE companies?
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalMy Lords, I hear what the noble Baroness says about targets. I also hear many on the Benches behind me saying that the most effective methodology would be to join Labour. If that is a target, I endorse it.
§ Lord BrookmanMy Lords, I am somewhat loath to rise on this Question, because I worked in the political arena of Wales with the noble Baroness, Lady Gale, or Anita Gale as she was then known, and she used to frighten the living daylights out of me. Is the Minister aware that Wales is known as the "mother state"? In other words, "mam" has always been completely in charge.
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalMy Lords, only my noble friend could say that.
§ Lord Campbell of AllowayMy Lords, without in any way wishing to disparage the quality of women in this House or anywhere else, is the Minister aware that the speech of the noble Baroness, Lady Gale, was not in the form of a question, contrary to the conventions of the House?
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalMy Lords, I think that the noble Baroness asked three questions and she enabled us to have the benefit of a great deal of information in between them.
§ Baroness GaleMy Lords, is the Minister aware that most of the women elected to the Welsh Assembly were elected under the first-past-the-post system and not by the list system?
§ Baroness Scotland of AsthalMy Lords, the noble Baroness makes a valuable point and that is why it is policies and their implementation that make a difference and enable those policies to be fair.