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

To ask Her Majesty's Government how they have worked with businesses to increase female representation in senior leadership positions, including executive roles on boards, since February.

We are working with businesses and business representative bodies to achieve diverse boardrooms and senior leadership teams for FTSE 350 companies by supporting the independent, business-led diversity reviews that have set targets for these companies: the Hampton-Alexander Review on FTSE Women Leaders and the Parker Review on ethnic diversity in business leadership.

Women hold a higher percentage of senior leadership positions in FTSE 350 companies than ever before. The FTSE100 as a whole has met the Hampton-Alexander Review 33% target for female representation on boards well ahead of the end of the Review period – end of 2020, and the FTSE 250 is currently also on course to reach the target by the end of the year.