Part One: Party Culture

A code of conduct transparently sets out behavioural standards and expectations for party members, staff, volunteers, and elected representatives. It ensures that all individuals associated with the party uphold ethical standards, treat others with respect, and contribute to a positive and inclusive political environment. A robust code of conduct that is effectively communicated and enforced promotes accountability, fairness, and integrity. While it can help prevent harassment, bias, and discrimination before they occur, it should also provide clear procedures for reporting and addressing violations.  

To foster diversity and inclusion, the code of conduct should state that all members and officials must adhere to principles of respect, fairness, and non-discrimination and that any form of hate speech, harassment, abuse or discrimination on the basis of any protected characteristic or socio-economic status is not tolerated. It should affirm your party’s commitment to equal opportunity and equitable participation, ensuring that underrepresented groups feel welcomed and valued.  

While engaged individuals within the party often play a key role in promoting diversity and inclusion, dedicated internal policies are invaluable to ensure this work is transparent, sustainable, and consistent. 

Below is a list of key internal policies that parties should consider adopting to ensure inclusivity for all underrepresented groups. Each policy should set out clear expectations and processes and provide a structured way to approach decision-making and disputes. 

• Accessibility Policy – Covers accessibility in events, elections, campaigning, and communication to ensure participation for all members.  

• Candidate Assessment Policy – Outlines how the party’s vetting, interview, and assessment processes ensure a fair and inclusive approach, including the use of diverse panels and training of panel members.

• Communications and Media Policy – Establishes guidelines for how the party communicates with the public and the media, ensuring inclusivity and respect.  

• Complaint and Whistleblower Protection Policy – Sets out a safe and confidential process for reporting discrimination, harassment, or bias-related concerns and ensures individuals are protected from retaliation when raising diversity and inclusion issues.  

• Discrimination and Harassment Policy – Articulates a zero-tolerance approach to discrimination and harassment as essential for a diverse and inclusive organisation. It clearly defines unacceptable behaviours, provides reporting mechanisms, outlines disciplinary actions for violations, and sets out an approach for preventing discrimination and harassment before it occurs.  

• Diversity Monitoring Policy – Sets out the party’s processes for measuring and tracking progress on diversity and inclusion through regular assessments, member surveys, and diversity reports.  

• Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Policy – Outlines procedures for preventing bias in recruitment, performance evaluations, and career advancement, including diverse hiring practices such as structured interviews, blind CV screening, and partnerships with diverse talent pools. 

• Equal Pay Policy – Sets out policies around identifying, addressing, and preventing pay gaps, including salary audits and transparent pay structures. 

• Flexible Work and Accommodation Policy – Workplace flexibility supports employees with different needs, including parents and unpaid carers, disabled individuals, or those observing religious practices. This policy should cover remote work, flexible hours, and reasonable accommodations.  

• Parental Leave Policy – Establishes clear provisions for parental leave, including maternity, paternity, adoption, and shared parental leave. This policy should outline leave entitlements, flexible return-to-work options, and protections against discrimination to foster a family-friendly and inclusive environment.  

• Peer Support Policy – Sets out how the party encourages, supports, and resources peer support networks, which provide vital support systems for underrepresented groups and help amplify their voices within the party.  

• Positive Action Policy – Sets out steps the party is taking to ensure underrepresented groups are actively considered in candidate vetting, longlisting, shortlisting, and selection.  

• Social Media and Online Behaviour Policy – Sets out expectations for online conduct, including respectful and responsible engagement on digital platforms. It includes examples of behaviour that won’t be tolerated, how people can report incidents, and the party’s complaints and disciplinary procedures. 

• Welfare and Inclusion Policy – Outlines how the party ensures the well-being, safety, and fair treatment of all individuals, promoting an inclusive environment free from discrimination. It should include provisions for support services, accessibility, equal opportunities, and measures to address welfare concerns effectively. 

Each policy should set out clear expectations and processes and provide a structured way to approach decision-making and disputes.   

The integration of remote, flexible, and digital participation offers opportunities to enhance inclusivity for underrepresented groups. By utilising digital platforms, political parties can eliminate barriers such as inaccessible venues and inconvenient event timings thereby broadening engagement opportunities. Offering events at a variety of times and locations, alongside virtual platforms for meetings, increases accessibility, especially for members in rural areas or those with mobility impairments or caring responsibilities. 

Digital tools can expand participation in campaigning activities, providing alternatives such as phone canvassing, digital outreach, administrative tasks, and online fundraising, thus accommodating those unable to engage in traditional door-to-door canvassing.  

At the same time, it is important to recognise that digital participation can present new challenges. Issues such as digital literacy gaps and unequal access to technology may disproportionately affect certain groups, including older people, women, ethnic minorities, and individuals on lower incomes. Therefore, parties should ensure their online resources are accessible and combine physical and digital engagement to ensure wider participation. 

In order to maintain an inclusive environment, it is crucial to offer both remote and in-person participation options. This dual approach ensures that all members can engage fully, regardless of personal circumstances, and promotes a more diverse, accessible, and equitable political space. 

Elected representatives and prominent party members will often be invited by media outlets, campaigns, and community groups to speak on a panel or do a media interview. One of the best ways you can demonstrate your commitment to equality and diversity is by sending a wide range of spokespeople to media and public events.   

When selecting panel participants for your own events, consider prioritising individuals with lived experiences of the issues being discussed, particularly if the topic relates to equality or diversity. If no one with lived experience of a subject is available or feels comfortable to speak, encourage the spokesperson to connect with them or their peer-support network beforehand. It is also imperative that people from underrepresented groups have equal opportunity to speak on topics that align with their expertise and interests, not solely based on their identity.  

To increase the diversity of your panellists, you should use positive actions. For example, you should consider encouraging speakers from overrepresented groups in the party to always ask who else is appearing on the panel before accepting an invite. If, for example, it’s an all-male panel, have a policy of suggesting a woman in the party to take their place. If it is not possible to send an alternative speaker, for example if you need to send a particular person from a specific party, parliamentary or council committee, encourage the person to speak about equality and diversity in their statement.   

Other actions you could take to increase the variety of spokespeople you have include:   

• Running media training to develop public speaking and media skills in your members and reserving places for people from underrepresented groups  

• Including a session in media training about issues people from underrepresented groups might face when doing media appearances. For example, techniques for challenging Islamophobia in media interviews   

• Devoting some resource and staff time to promoting the work and campaigns of underrepresented groups’ networks in your party through press releases, press events, receptions etc.  

When organising a debate or discussion, you should think in advance about what would make people feel more comfortable and enable more people to contribute. For example, people from majority groups often speak for longer and can speak over people from minority groups. To address this, you could consider actions such as having timed contributions from people during discussions and ensuring the chairperson chooses a diverse range of people to contribute.   

People from underrepresented groups do not always feel represented in the materials, manifestos, images and campaign videos produced by political parties. Not only does this reinforce structural barriers to involvement in politics, but it can also be off-putting for people interested in joining a party. Making your party’s images representative of the diverse population of Wales is important. When selecting campaign photographs and creating materials such as leaflets or party election broadcasts, it’s important to showcase a diverse representation that reflects the full spectrum of society.  

However, be aware that these images should not be tokenistic. There is no point creating inclusive materials if you are not taking other actions described in this toolkit. For example, do not ask minority ethnic members to appear in photos and then not take proactive steps to remove barriers for them to fully participate in your party’s activities. 

There is often a lot of content to fit into a manifesto which can mean that topics such as equality are cut from the document or are not as prominent as they should be. When writing your manifesto make sure that you consider from the beginning how your commitment to equality and diversity will be reflected. This could mean you have a specific section of your manifesto devoted to your equalities policies; or you could include relevant commitments throughout the document. You could also consider producing targeted manifestos that detail policies relevant to different groups and their specific needs. 

All people in Wales should be able to access information about and get involved in political activities. To achieve this, it is essential that campaign and membership materials are easily understood by all your members and potential voters.   

It is good practice to produce campaign materials, manifestos and leaflets in a variety of formats, for example: Easy Read, on audio, BSL and Braille. Parties should always add subtitles to videos to enable people with a hearing impairment to engage with your content. 

In some areas of Wales, many people will not speak Welsh or English as a first language. It is important that parties anticipate this and where appropriate produce materials in languages other than Welsh and English. Alongside Welsh and English, you might want to consider making your campaign materials available in the three most spoken languages in that constituency or area. National parties should think about providing extra assistance and funds to local parties in areas where they know there are several languages spoken other than Welsh and English. When translating materials and documents, parties should use a professional translator rather than a volunteer. 

To help your party members, staff, and elected officials feel safe, the party should produce a clear bullying and harassment policy which states your zero-tolerance approach to bullying and harassment, including sexual harassment. This policy should be widely available to members and include:  

• Information about what harassment is, with examples of what it can include  

• Ways people can report bullying and harassment  

• How reports of bullying and harassment will be investigated, including clear timelines   

• The disciplinary procedure outlining the actions that will be taken against people who bully or harass   

• Support available for people who want to report an incident.

Your party should also consider posting a public statement on your website or at events about your commitment to equality and that abusive or offensive behaviour won’t be tolerated.

To understand whether bullying or harassment is a problem in your party, it is a good idea to record the number of reports and complaints each year and have this information widely available. Your party can also use the information to investigate whether there is a need to make further changes to your complaints procedures. 

Providing good support for victims of bullying and harassment is important in creating a culture where people are willing to report it. Staff at all levels should be trained to handle complaints sensitively and empathetically. It is good practice to have several different contacts to report incidents to and for these be widely publicised to members and staff. Where possible try to develop a range of methods for reporting harassment including anonymous, email, online, and face to face reporting. It can also be helpful to appoint someone at a local branch level who is not involved in the day-to-day activities of the party and can act as an additional and independent person to report bullying or harassment to. All reports of and complaints about bullying and harassment should be treated confidentially.   

The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) has guidance about how to carry out a fair investigation of complaints and what your legal obligations are if a staff member complains about harassment. It is good practice for investigations to be carried out by someone who is independent of the incident and people involved. To achieve this, your party could think about using someone from another section of the party to help investigate and run the disciplinary process.   

It may be tempting to deal with incidents of bullying and harassment within the party and not involve the police. However, whilst bullying itself isn’t illegal, harassment because of a person’s race, religion, impairment, gender identity or sexual orientation is classed as a hate crime. If someone has been a victim of a hate crime, the person should be helped and encouraged to report this to the police, but the ultimate decision should always lie with the individual affected. 

After reporting an incident of harassment, the victim might be unsure about what will happen next or be scared about how they will be treated in the party. Training some of your members to provide peer support to victims during the process of making a complaint could enable people from underrepresented groups to feel more confident about coming forward. This support might include explaining the complaints process, supporting people to make their report into a formal complaint and providing advocacy support during the complaints process.