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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the campaign launched on 1 October by the Confederation of British Industry and others to increase the diversity of racial and ethnic participation in British businesses.

The Government is committed to promoting business leadership diversity and inclusion. Companies should embrace diversity throughout their workforce, including at board level and throughout senior leadership and the talent pipeline.

We work with businesses and business representative bodies to promote diverse boardrooms for FTSE 350 companies, and we support the independent business-led Parker Review which recommends that FTSE 100 companies should have at least one director of colour by the end of 2021 and that FTSE 250 companies also meet this target by the end of 2024.

We welcome the CBI campaign’s reinforcement of the Parker Review’s recommendations.