Corporate Governance

Baroness Howe of Idlicote Excerpts

Wednesday 7th December 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Wilcox]

I am sure that the usual channels will discuss the matter and we will come back to the noble Lord.

[Baroness Howe of Idlicote]

My Lords, given the mention of the Davies report and given a recent report which I read, which showed that women's contribution had increased UK GDP by a considerable percentage, can the Minister give us a clear idea of what steps she and the Government intend to take to speed up the process of implementing the Davies report?

[Baroness Wilcox]

The implementation of the Davies report is going ahead and things are improving, but we want to see what results can be achieved through a voluntary approach, and we are taking a very close interest in how much progress is being made. We want to encourage talent, but we want to avoid tokenism. I think that 89 per cent of the women whom the noble Lord, Lord Davies, spoke to said that they were not in favour of quotas, so we are trying to avoid getting to that stage if we can. There is no one-size-fits-all answer—companies need to be flexible in their operations. I should like to think that the women who are chosen to go on those boards are chosen because they are the right people for the job.