Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase gender diversity at board level positions in public bodies.

In increasing the gender diversity of new appointees each year we have made considerable progress. In 2016/17, the proportion of women as new appointees to the boards of public bodies rose to 49% from 34% in 2013/14.

In December 2017 Government launched its Diversity Action Plan for Public Appointments. This includes a commitment that by 2022, half of public appointees should be female and 14% should be from ethnic minorities, bringing representation on public boards in line with the wider population.