A Senedd for All: How to ensure a Family-Friendly and Inclusive Parliament for Wales

By Dr Alison Parken, Dr Rachel Minto and Dr Leah Hibbs

The Senedd’s first Family-Friendly and Inclusive Parliament Review (FFIPR)

A recent review assessed equal representation and participation of Members of the Senedd (MS), the ‘liveability’ of managing a high-hours job and caring roles, and the prevalence and impact of online abuse on elected MS. Using international Gender Sensitive Audit (GSA) standards, it also considered the effectiveness of operational mechanisms for promoting equality through legislation.

The review took a wider view of equalities in keeping with the original vision of Welsh devolution as a modern, inclusive, democracy that espoused good governance principles (National Assembly Advisory Group 1998).[1] The promotion of equality was a core ambition of the campaign for devolution (Minto and Parken, 2019). The founding legislation of the National Assembly for Wales, included a commitment to the promotion of equality of opportunity for all people (s.120, GOWA 1998).  This commitment was both symbolic and substantive, and set Wales apart internationally.

In commissioning a Family-Friendly and Inclusive Parliament Review, the Senedd joins the ranks of legislatures across the world who have undertaken such audits with a view to strengthening their democratic credentials, drawing from – and contributing to – international standards of good practice. The report and recommendations were debated in Plenary on 11^th March.

The research with Members of the Senedd during October and November 2025, included 21 qualitative interviews, surveys of current and former Members, and group interviews with some political party groups, the Members of the Equality and Social Justice Committee and the Cross-Party Working group on Women.

We found much to commend in the policies, operations and procedures of the Senedd such the facility for hybrid working which is maintaining attachment to the role for Members with caring responsibilities, the facility for proxy voting and pairing to cover unavoidable absence, and the availability of childcare and caring allowances to provide cover for MSs during out of hours working. However, there has been some drift from the original vision for the legislature. Our suggested recommendations, subsequently adapted to the context by the Senedd Commission and adopted by the FFIPR Board, are focused on ensuring the Senedd remains at the heart of an inclusive representative democracy in Wales, for current and future generations.

Gender Balanced Representation

The Senedd is celebrated as an international success story for women’s representation. The first Senedd (1999-20023) marked the low point of women’s representation at 40%. In the second, the Senedd became the first legislature in the world to see an equal representation of women and men.

Figure 1: Men and Women’s representation across all Senedd terms to date

Women have held notable leadership roles across the six parliamentary terms. A woman served as Llywydd/Presiding Officer for 56% of the first six legislative terms (men 44%) and as Deputy Presiding Officer for 38% (men 62%). Since the third Assembly, at least one of these roles has been held by a woman.

Cabinet representation has been mixed. In 2024, Wales swore in its first Black First Minister who was also the first Black leader of a European nation. However, Wales did not have a female First Minister until 2025 (the sixth First Minister since 1999).  Beyond this leadership role, women have led high-prestige “masculine” portfolios, such as Finance (81%). However, some stereotyping of portfolios was evident e.g. with women more often assigned ministerial positions in education and men acting as the Counsel General.

 Significantly, the Senedd’s more gender balanced composition is highly precarious, particularly in the absence of specific support measures. Indeed, there is a risk that the Seventh Senedd may be the least representative of women to date, limiting the pool of women to take leadership roles across breadth of the Senedd business.

Diverse Representation and the big data gap

A common criticism of the Senedd is its poor performance beyond women’s representation. Despite having Europe’s first Black First Minister, it seems that few MSs have come from ethnic minority or working-class backgrounds, or are disabled people. MSs raised this deficit in our research, and commented that diversity would strengthen Senedd debates, constituency and committee work.

We say, ‘it seems’ that the Senedd is markedly undiverse beyond its representation of men and women, as it is difficult to know – data on Members’ equality characteristics is not collected. As public role holders, there is no requirement to collect the demographic data of Wales’s national representatives. Therefore, the FFIPR recommends gathering diversity monitoring data (including socio-economic status) upon election to the Senedd, and that the UK Government enacts s.106 Equality Act 2010 to require political parties to publish anonymised diversity data on electoral candidates.

Equal Participation

Parliamentary business takes place in twice-weekly Plenary meetings and during 17 committees.  Exploring MSs’ participation reveals how Senedd Members contribute substantively to the Senedd’s work.

Participation varies. Plenary analysis shows women contribute disproportionately more than men, often preferring an evidence-based and deliberative style which can be undervalued. Meanwhile, more ‘performative’, adversarial styles are increasing, undermining a consensus-building approach which has characterised Welsh politics.

Since devolution, men have dominated the ‘big’ committees (Agriculture and Rural Affairs; Economy; Environment; Health; and Legislation, Justice and Constitution) while women have disproportionately chaired committees on Education and Culture. Some committees have been markedly imbalanced, including a single sex committee in this term. Periodically, some Members been appointed to serve on three committees concurrently, creating an unsustainable workload. The expansion of the Senedd to 96 Members may not solve this issue, if ministerial portfolios and associated committees expand in the Seventh Senedd. The FFIPR recommends that there should not be any single sex committees in future, and the Senedd should strive for gender balanced committee membership.

Senedd practice and the assumption that MSs are not carers

Many Members shared their experiences of seeking to balance the demands of their high hours role, on average 57 hours per week (Hansard Society 2011, in Expert Panel on Electoral Reform p.52/53) with caring responsibilities. Men and women shared their experiences of managing childcare, and/or care for parents and grandchildren. Former Members cited the challenge of managing these responsibilities as one reason for not seeking re-election.

The length and predictability of the Senedd’s business day is fundamental to promoting a family friendly and inclusive Senedd. The Sixth Senedd has a commitment not to schedule work before 9am or after 6pm, but late sittings in Plenary have become more common. It is extremely challenging for main carers (most often women), to fulfil their Senedd and caring duties if they have no notice that Plenary is likely to run beyond 6pm. The FFIPR recommendations setting family friendly sitting times, including provision of adequate notice if a Plenary is going to run beyond 6pm.

Whilst Members appreciated that planned absences could be accommodated through formal (i.e. proxy) and informal (i.e. pairing) voting arrangements, lack of an emergency leave protocol (for use in the case of a relative’s medical emergency or similar), was a concern that we have recommended is addressed.

The option to participate in Plenary and Committee online was seen as invaluable for those with caring responsibilities, although some Members noted that hybrid format did not work as well in all situations – scrutinising Minsters was given as an example. Some MSs expressed concern that hybrid working was being used too much, while others observed dissonance between the availability of the policy and feeling pressure to attend in-person. The review’s recommendations include a call to value hybrid working as having the same status as working in person, and for monitoring to capture any deleterious career impacts for MSs working in a hybrid manner.

The lack of childcare provision in the Senedd was a frustration for many Members as it is viewed as a measure that could increase the number of candidates who have caring responsibilities and their diversity.  Research and review work is ongoing by Senedd Commission into developing childcare provision.  The FFIPR recommendations included a call for childcare facilities to be available early in the Seventh Senedd.

The increase of MSs to 96 in the Seventh Senedd is intended increase capacity to scrutinise policy and legislative proposals. Proposals to expand or manage the ‘business week’ differently have been set out, and will be decided upon by Members early in the new Senedd term:

• Option 1: Status quo (two Plenary sessions each week)
• Option 2: An additional Plenary session each week; and
• Option 3: Multi-week.

The multi-week system might include several successive sitting weeks with concentrated Plenary and Committee sessions, and separate weeks dedicated to constituency work.

The FFIPR research findings on the importance of working arrangements for managing work/life balance and increasing diversity, must be included in the decisions about reorganising the business week.

Abuse of Members: Beyond a ‘Cost of Doing Politics’

Online abuse has become widespread and constituted a key area of concern for all participants. Every MS who participated in this research had either suffered from abuse or harassment online themselves or knew a fellow Member who had. However, most worryingly, abuse has become normalised as merely the ‘cost of doing politics’. This not only negatively affects individual politicians but often their families and political staff as well. Such abuse is constraining on democracy as MSs reduce in person constituency work and disengage from social media in response.

In some cases, this abuse took a serious, criminal form, including death threats issued on social media. Primarily, though, it was the constancy and sheer volume of online abuse which caused most concern. Social media was a common site for this, primarily ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) and Facebook, and Members discussed its problematic 24/7 nature, meaning they faced reading, reporting, and blocking abusive comments or users during their evenings and weekends. Abuse and harassment of Members online was also found to be gendered, with women MSs facing comments which focused on them as women rather than as politicians – this included sexual harassment and threats, as well as negative comments on their appearance or clothing.

Online abuse also affected Members’ families who often worried about the impact of these abusive comments on Members, and the possibility of online abuse becoming an offline attack. Furthermore, there was concern for the wellbeing of Members’ political staff who, in many cases, are those reading, responding to, and managing Members’ social media pages. Some Members had deleted their social media pages or changed them to ‘broadcast only’ because of abuse and harassment.

Some MSs reported being targets of abuse and harassment from members of the public in offline spaces, too, either on or around the Senedd Estate, in their constituency offices, and more concerningly at their homes. This, and the high-profile murders of UK politicians elsewhere including those of Jo Cox MP and Sir David Amess MP, had motivated some Members to shift their constituency engagement to remote methods of communication or to pre-booked appointments. Others spoke of no longer advertising their presence at public events in advance. Members had also introduced precautionary measures at their homes including security cameras and personal alarms.

The abuse of Members by the public has a deleterious impact on democracy, both through current MSs revising or limiting their activity offline and online, but further on diversity in the Senedd. Potential abuse was cited as key in discouraging prospective politicians from standing, particularly for women and other historically marginalised groups. Further to this, it was mentioned by former Members as pivotal in their decisions to not seek re-election and was mentioned as a motivator for some current Members stepping down at the end of the Sixth Senedd in May 2026. We have recommended that this final point is investigated further through exit interviews or surveys with Members standing down.

Social media abuse and threats to politicians should not be seen as normal and to be endured. The FFIPR recommends the full implementation of a Social Media Monitoring System, which is currently being trialled, and that the Senedd Commission establishes a ‘Safe Participation in Politics Taskforce’ to oversee and commission ongoing work regarding the abuse and harassment of Members. It further recommends the Senedd Commission review its security provisions and protocols to build a stronger, preventative approach to security, alongside ensuring clear and consistent guidance for Members on preventing, reporting, and responding to all forms of abuse from the public.

Equality Mainstreaming: Strong individuals but weak mechanisms

Wales’s approach to equality mainstreaming intends to proactively embed equality in all policy– rather than assessing impacts following policy design (Parken, 2022).  Our research revealed the significance of individual Members in promoting equality, amidst a lack of institutional mechanisms for them to do so.

In the Sixth Senedd, the Equality and Social Justice Committee has championed equality through its oversight and scrutiny work – as well as promoting its own ambitious equalities agenda. However, in the Fourth and Fifth Assembled, equalities was subsumed within a broader portfolio (including local government and communities). The FFIPR recommends that there must be a stand-alone committee focused on equality and social justice.

However, placing sole responsibility for equalities activity upon one committee is not how equality mainstreaming should function in practice. Mainstreaming equality requires all Senedd committees to scrutinise policy from an equalities perspective and to promote equality in law-making, supported by appropriate institutional structures. The FFIPR recommends capacity building to equip committees with the skills, expertise and confidence to undertake scrutiny and oversight activity from an equalities perspective, while Senedd Research provides them with key data and insights.

The FFIPR Board further recommends that Senedd Research evaluates the new programme for government with respect to its potential to contribute to achieving Wales’s National Wellbeing Milestones (which include for example healthy birth weight and life expectancy, and closing gender, ethnicity and disability pay gaps). It also calls for co-production in committees engagement, through using the Equality Mainstreaming Model developed in Wales to integrate equality into policy making in scrutiny work.  In this model, policymakers and equality organisations work collaboratively through an evidence and solution finding process designed to promote equality. Committees should also review annually the data collected on the diversity of those who engage in committee inquires through consultation responses and giving evidence.

Next steps

We have highlighted only a few recommendations. The full FFIPR report has 50. As we look ahead to the Seventh Senedd, it is crucial that these recommendations are implemented. A new Family Friendly and Inclusive Parliament Board must be established to oversee their implementation, and everyone committed to a democratic, effective, efficient and inclusive legislature in Wales will need to call on their representatives to ensure progress.

It is only through collaborative endeavour that the vision of a truly representative and inclusive Senedd, at the heart of Wales’s democracy, can be realised.

Family Friendly and Inclusive Parliament Review report: https://laiddocuments.senedd.wales/gen-ld17909-en.pdf

Senedd news article: https://senedd.wales/senedd-now/news/a-family-friendly-senedd/

Cardiff University: https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/view/3033922-a-family-friendly-and-inclusive-senedd-cardiff-university-academics-evaluate-representation-and-participation-in-the-welsh-parliament

[1] The National Assembly Advisory Group was established in 1997 to provide advice on the Standing Orders of the new National Assembly for Wales. Report available from Senedd library. List of Members:

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1998-07-30/debates/d2dc8fa8-c900-49e7-9fee-4fd7d3bbea36/TaskForces