Women in the House of Commons after the 2020 election: Government Response to the Committee's Fifth Report of Session 2016-17

This is the government's response, published 7 September 2017.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Government agrees that increasing women's representation is an important aim but does not support a domestic target, statutory quotas or sanctions, looking instead to parties to lead through "further and more vigorous voluntary action".

• It "does not believe that overall domestic targets are the solution" and says initiatives need to be developed by the parties, though it agrees it should support parties in this aim.
• It does not believe legislative quotas for parliamentary candidates are "the right approach", and because it "does not support quotas set out in legislation" it does not agree that sanctions should be introduced.
• On publishing candidate diversity data, it "proposes to continue the process of engaging with the parties" ahead of the next General Election, "rather than imposing legislative requirements" through section 106 of the Equality Act.
• On all-women shortlists, it notes current legislation already provides for them up to 2030, so extension is "not at present an immediate issue". On mayoral and police and crime commissioner posts, it says "We will need to consider this issue further."

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