Written Statement: Diversity and inclusion guidance for registered political parties in Wales

I am today publishing diversity and inclusion guidance for registered political parties in Wales. The voluntary guidance encourages political parties to publish diversity and inclusion strategies, as well as to collect and publish diversity information on Senedd candidates. It also encourages parties to consider steps they may take in relation to voluntary quotas for women.

This follows a public consultation on draft guidance, which took place between November 2024 and January 2025. I would like to thank all who took the time to consider the draft guidance and to provide their feedback by responding to the consultation.

A number of themes emerged from the consultation exercise and we sought to reflect those in our response. Some respondents called for greater clarity on the characteristics and circumstances in the guidance. Others provided suggestions on how we could improve and strengthen the template survey for political parties. Some stakeholders shared their reservations about the capacity of political parties to implement elements of the guidance and called for more support for political parties to do so, for example around steps they could take to comply with data protection legislation. 

It was no surprise that many respondents highlighted the need for political parties to play their part in protecting candidates from intimidation, harassment, and abuse, and in supporting those who fall victim to such unacceptable behaviour. 

We have made a number of changes in light of the responses. These have served to strengthen the guidance and make it more helpful for the primary audience, which is registered political parties standing candidates in Welsh elections. These changes mainly relate to areas where we have looked to provide clarification on certain aspects; to provide additional ideas on action political parties can take or to signpost to additional support for political parties in areas where it has been flagged to us that this may be useful. 

Whilst we are leading the way in the United Kingdom with this voluntary guidance, I welcome the UK Government’s recent commitment to commence section 106 of the Equality Act 2010. This action will place a legal requirement on registered political parties to publish anonymised data on the diversity of their Senedd candidates. The guidance published today gives political parties in Wales a head start in advance of that legal requirement being introduced.

I am encouraged by the real desire from all political parties in this Senedd to see not only more women in politics, but also greater diversity and inclusion across other characteristics.  As we approach the 2026 Senedd election, now is the time for all parties to ensure their selection processes for our Welsh Parliament truly reflect a modern and diverse Wales.

The guidance will be subject to ongoing review. Political parties have shown they have the will to see improvement in this area, and this guidance provides them with the tools. I call on all parties contesting Welsh elections to take seriously their responsibility for ensuring the candidates they put forward for election, at all levels, in Wales are more representative of the people they seek to serve. Together, we can build a Senedd that better represents people from all walks of life, serves all of our communities, and where everyone has a voice in our democracy.