National Federation of Women's Institutes

Written Evidence from the National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI)

The Women’s Institute (WI) is the largest voluntary women’s organisation in the UK with 205,000 members in 6,500 WIs. It was established to ensure that women are able to take an effective part in their community, to learn together, widen their horizons, improve and develop the quality of their lives and those of their communities and together influence local, national and international affairs. The WI has an unrivalled reputation as a voice of reason, integrity and intelligence on issues that matter to women and their communities. In Wales, there are 16,000 members belonging to about 500 WIs. Members come from all ages and walks of life.

The National Federation of Women’s Institutes-Wales would like to raise the concerns below in relation to the proposals in the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill.

Changes proposed to parliamentary constituency boundaries could impact adversely on Wales’ representation at Westminster as a result of measures to reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 600. About 10 of the 50 seat reduction could occur in Wales and NFWI-Wales is concerned that the voice of Wales will be lost in Parliament. Although responsibility for many areas such as health, education and local government have been devolved the National Assembly for Wales, NFWI-Wales still believes that it is crucial that Wales continues to well-represented in the UK Parliament. Westminster has responsibility for allocating funding to the Assembly and still retains responsibility for primary legislation and for non-devolved issues such as the criminal justice system which impact directly on the citizens of Wales.

NFWI-Wales is concerned about the impact the above could have on its members in terms of getting their voices heard by MPs and also, in rural communities in particular, the impact that the proposed changes could have on members’ access to their local MPs due to the geography of rural communities. WI members are very active in their communities and regularly liaise with their local MPs to highlight issues of concern to the WI and influence change in policy.

We feel that any Bill of this kind should take into account the geography of Wales. If MP representation in rural areas such as Mid Wales is reduced, this will create barriers between constituents and their parliamentary representatives. It could also play a part in distancing community members from the democratic process. NFWI-Wales believes that accessibility to parliamentary representatives should not be compromised.

Another issue that we would like to raise is the fact that the proposed changes to parliamentary constituencies would mean that there would be different constituencies for UK elections and Assembly elections. NFWI-Wales is concerned that this could disengage people from getting involved in the democratic process. NFWI-Wales is also concerned that should the Assembly election constituencies be changed in future to reflect changes introduced in the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill, there could be a reduction in the number of Assembly Members representing Wales.

Finally, we note that the Bill is seeking to abolish local boundary hearings. NFWI-Wales believes that local consultations on changes to electoral boundaries should not be abolished and it is the right of local people to be consulted and given adequate opportunities to get their voices heard. NFWI-Wales would not want to see the current system watered down; the citizens of Wales must be empowered to get involved in the democratic process in Wales. It must be ensured that any changes introduced in the Bill do not undermine democracy in Wales.

I hope that our comments will be of use to the Welsh Affairs Committee. This Bill will also be discussed by NFWI’s Federations of Wales Committee on 12 October. We will follow the development of the Bill with interest.

17 September 2010