Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of female councillors in England.

I met with the Fawcett Society and representitivesof the Local Government association on 23 May.

This was a very constructive discussion and we identified a number of areas to explore further. i am keen to keep that dialogue going and to keep working together to tackle this issue.