Ms Catherine Lane:

I thank the Deputy.

Gender quotas would be one mechanism, alongside a number of other actions that are needed to balance the representation of women, in particular, as the Deputy spoke about, in terms of local government. We have seen very positive developments. I understand three urban local authorities now have gender balance but, as I outlined, the lack of female representation across the north west and midlands is stark.

We have seen how quotas have worked quite quickly and that pace of change is required. We saw the impact when they were introduced for general elections, for example, which was very positive. Obviously, more remains to be done. What we learned from the most recent local elections is that the action that is required is from political parties themselves. We saw a lot of positive progress in some smaller parties. Some of the bigger parties did not put in the effort in terms of fielding women candidates on the ballot paper across all of the different constituencies.

In terms of the impact and change that we need and want to see, and that women and our membership want to see, the introduction of quotas at a lower level will bring about that positive change. We also recognise that other areas need to change, such as maternity and paternity leave for councillors, more family-friendly processes and system changes within local government. Some of those are being addressed by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and other stakeholders, which we welcome.

On the obligations that have been set out, the Citizens' Assembly on gender equality has voted overwhelmingly in favour of the introduction of such quotas. We would not be concerned that the obligations would erode any progress that has been made. They would accelerate progress in areas where it is desperately required.