Motion to take note of International Women’s Day and the steps taken to promote the economic inclusion of women, 8 March 2024

• It is essential that the early years system enables parents and carers to work. Recent labour supply support policies, including expanded free childcare, will result in an impact of 0.2 per cent on GDP. While access to affordable childcare is important for all families, it is particularly crucial for those on the lowest incomes, women and single-parent families. Childcare enables people to work; increase their hours or take on new opportunities; move out of poverty and improve their families’ long-term life chances.
• It is vital that local government reflect the communities it serves. Women make up 76 per cent of employees in the local government workforce. Still only 33 per cent of councillors in England are women. Our members feed-back that a lack of pension contributions, support for parents and flexibility in how councillors can attend meetings and the abuse and intimidation directed at those at in public life, act as barriers to women and other under-represented groups standing for election or taking on leadership responsibilities.
• We are committed to tackling these issues and helping councils to improve their diversity and economic inclusion, including by calling on the Government to reinstate the flexibility for councils to hold remote and hybrid meetings and encouraging them to consider parental support arrangements. Through our sector led improvement offer, the LGA also provides a series of programmes, campaigns and toolkits to help our members encourage and support women and those from other underrepresented groups to run for political office.  
• The LGA’s Be a Councillor campaign is at the heart of our work to encourage more people from all walks of life to engage with politics and represent their communities as a councillor. Our Women’s Leadership programme also offers vital support to female councillors, to help them hone their political skills, build their professional networks and support them into positions of leadership.

It is essential that the early years system enables parents and carers to work. The OBR (Office of Budget Responsibility) estimates that by 2027-28 the forthcoming expansion to 30 hours a week of free childcare for working parents of nine-month- to two-year-olds of childcare to will enable an additional 60,000 people to enter employment and work an average of around 16 hours a week.

All of the labour supply support policies together will result in an impact of 0.2 per cent on GDP. While access to affordable childcare is important for all families, it is particularly crucial for those on the lowest incomes, women and single-parent families. Childcare enables people to work; increase their hours or take on new opportunities; move out of poverty and improve their families’ and children’s long-term life chances.

Many politicians face abuse, online and offline, but our Debate Not Hate research shows that there is a perception that women and other underrepresented groups are more likely to receive higher volumes of personalised and discriminatory abuse than others. The increasing level of abuse and intimidation is undermining local democracy, preventing elected members from representing the communities they serve, and deterring individuals from standing for election. The LGA’s Debate Not Hate campaign therefore aims to raise public awareness of the role of councillors in their communities, encourage healthy debate and improve the responses and support for local politicians facing abuse and intimidation.

Democracy and decision-making are strengthened when councillors reflect the people they seek to serve and represent. Representative councils, with equal participation of men and women, are best able to engage with and speak for their communities and carry out the business of local government effectively. We are committed to helping councils promote the economic inclusion of women by encouraging women to stand for election, and removing barriers that may keep them from doing so.

The LGA’s Be a Councillor campaign aims to help councils encourage a more diverse range of people consider standing for election. Councils are encouraged to think about holding prospective councillor events, creating short films to showcase the role of the councillor or sharing our e-Learning to educate on what local government does. A variety of councils across the country are supported to run their own Be a Councillor campaigns. 

The LGA’s toolkit Twenty-first century councils, backed by the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, is aimed at helping those who have other responsibilities, such as looking after children, including those with special needs, caring for an older relative or who want to start a family, to be councillors and represent their communities. It also provides support to women councillors and their families, some of whom have faced intimidation, particularly online, and to encourage and empower them to stand for election again in future. 

The LGA is working to reduce the barriers that often prevent women from entering politics, for example, by encouraging councils to have leave arrangements in place, and calling on the Government to reinstate councils’ powers to hold online and hybrid meetings.  

Throughout the pandemic, councils effectively conducted all of their business virtually, which allowed them to make critical decisions without delay and carry out the everyday functions of local democracy. Crucially, the option to attend meetings virtually increased accessibility for both councillors and the general public, particularly for disabled people and those with caring responsibilities. We are therefore calling for the flexibility to hold online and hybrid meetings to be restored to councils, to maintain these gains in accessibility, inclusion, and participation in local democracy. 

The LGA runs a wide range of leadership development programmes, including a series of networking events for those under-represented in local government, and particularly in leadership positions. The popular Women’s leadership programme supports women councillors to hone their political skills and build professional networks. 

Councils have a significant and positive impact on the lives of their female residents, through the range of vital services they provide. These range from the provision of affordable and secure housing, to providing support for new mothers and families, preventing domestic abuse, tackling female genital mutilation (FGM), and working to make public spaces safer for women.

For International Women’s Day, we have collated the following case studies of councils’ innovative work and projects to tackle discrimination and improve the lives of women: 

North Hertfordshire District Council – Councillor parental Leave Policy 

At present there is no legal right to parental leave of any kind for people in elected public office. Currently policies can only be implemented on a voluntary basis. The objective of the Councillor Parental Leave Policy is to ensure that insofar as possible councillors are able to take appropriate leave at the time of birth or adoption (including surrogacy), that both parents are able to take leave, that they have a more family friendly environment for councillors and that reasonable and adequate arrangements are in place to provide cover for portfolio-holders and others in receipt of Special Responsibility Allowances (SRA) during any period of leave taken.

Whilst this Policy is aimed at the issue of parental leave, it is also intended to enable people of varying ages and/or backgrounds to become councillors and to aid in the retention of experienced councillors who might otherwise feel induced to give up their position upon becoming a parent.

The Policy provides for up to six months and a further six months for councillors for maternity, paternity and adoption (including surrogacy) leave and that was brought in from September 2021. It also covers the section 85 Local Government Act 1972, six months rule – so no further full council authorisation is required if a councillor wishes to go beyond six months.

Milton Keynes Council - Women into Work Scheme 

To identify the local need and the best options for support, the council’s economic development team worked closely with local charities, community groups and the MK Business Community. In March 2021, Milton Keynes Council launched three schemes to support women back into work, investing £250,000 and working in partnership with local charities and organisations. These schemes were:  

• Women’s Leaders: Women’s Leaders UK, a registered charity based in Milton Keynes, delivered two projects focussing on long term change. Careers Connect connected women trying to get back to work after an absence with Women’s Leaders award winners who offered mentorship to improve their confidence, to network and to access continuing professional development learning opportunities. The Allyship scheme was delivered to senior leaders in Milton Keynes businesses to support and challenge organisations to create female friendly, flexible workplaces.  
• Works for Us: This local charity delivered training and personal development, interview preparation and practice, and overall career guidance to Milton Keynes women. The scheme also provided digital equipment and mobile internet connections to women struggling to get online and access career support. 
• Red Thread: The Red Thread Partnership delivered a World Class Manager course, an accredited online training programme targeting female leaders, managers and entrepreneurs. 

Since its launch, the Women into Work Scheme has continued to evolve, including the introduction of two more programmes. 

Norfolk County Council – Domestic Abuse Champions

Children’s Services in Norfolk County Council have made substantial changes to their strategic approach to domestic abuse by placing early intervention and prevention at the heart of their response. Together with partners, they developed a whole family, strength based, relationship focussed approach, aiming to genuinely support the whole family. They brought together a multi-disciplinary team of practitioners which included domestic abuse, parenting support and substance misuse to meet the needs of families and where appropriate support behaviour change.

Parental domestic abuse was a prominent feature in approximately one third of families who had a social work assessment.  Norfolk recognised that early identification was key to reducing the number of safeguarding concerns and children going into care or receiving child protection plans.

However, one of the key barriers to early identification recognised by Children’s Services (CS) within Norfolk County Council, was that many staff in frontline roles lacked the confidence and training to respond effectively to suspected victims of domestic abuse. For example, some staff were reluctant to encourage disclosures or were unsure what questions to ask when they did suspect domestic abuse. To overcome this challenge, training and empowering frontline staff from various agencies became a key priority to delivering the aspiration of early identification and intervention of domestic abuse.

Hannah Sadik
Public Affairs and Communications and Communications Improvement Graduate 
Mobile: 07867 461578
Email: [email protected]