Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the recommendations of the Parker Review on increasing the ethnic diversity of UK boards are implemented.

The Government wants to see greater diversity on the boards of the FTSE’s largest companies, and wants to see that delivered through a business-led approach. That approach has seen the proportion of women on FTSE100 boards increase from 12.5% in 2010 to nearly 27% as at April 2017. We now want to extend that progress to ethnic, as well as gender, diversity.

Sir John Parker’s Review is an industry-led review, and its recommendations will be for the private sector to consider. However, the Government will keep a close eye on how things develop, and consider whether it needs to take action once Sir John finalises his recommendations before the end of this year.

The boardroom must reflect modern Britain. Companies will do better if they make better use of the talent available and ensure their boardrooms reflect their workforces and wider society. Sir John’s Review is an important, industry-led contribution to this debate.