§ 17. Ms Julie MorganTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what plans he has to increase opportunities for women in political life in Wales. [821041]
§ Mr. MichaelI am committed to increasing the representation of women at all levels of Government. Our White Paper called on local government to consider how they could best schedule meetings to allow councillors to combine elected office with work and family commitments and undertook to work with the Equal Opportunities Commission to consider how more women councillors can be encouraged.
We have agreed that official meetings of the National Assembly should be timetabled between 9.00am and 5.30pm to make it easier to combine politics with family life.
I also believe political parties must rise to the challenge of securing greater representation of women amongst their candidates for election.