Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential value to the UK economy of achieving a better gender balance on company boards.
The Government is committed to a cohesive society, where everyone – no matter what their background – has the opportunity to enter into and progress at work and achieve on merit.
Gender diversity in the workforce and in business leadership is good for company performance and productivity; it benefits investors, the wider economy and society as a whole. A report published by McKinsey in 2016 has estimated that bridging the UK gender gap in work has the potential to create an extra £150 billion on top of business-as-usual GDP forecasts in 2025.
That is why we need our top companies to lead the way on this. The Government commissioned and supports the independent, business-led Hampton-Alexander Review to meet its targets of women holding 33% of senior leadership positions and 33% of board positions in FTSE350 companies by 2020.