Ros in the Lords: Women on Boards

Question

Asked by Baroness Scott of Needham Market

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of the number of female directors on FTSE 100 boards.[HL5589]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Viscount Younger of Leckie) (Con): There are around 229 female Executive and Non-Executive Directors on FTSE 100 boards.

Women now account for 20.4% of board members in FTSE 100 companies (figures from January 2014), up from 12.5% in February 2011.

Government supports a voluntary business-led approach for increasing the number of women on FTSE boards and, following Lord Davies’s recommendations, set a target of 25% of the membership of FTSE 100 company boards by 2015.