Claire Perry
Main Page: Claire Perry (Conservative - Devizes)
Vince Cable
I would strongly recommend it. I believe that 24 such schemes have already been launched and more than 5,000 apprenticeships have been generated in that way. I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on his role in promoting it in his constituency and compliment the company, whose headquarters in Royston I visited a few weeks ago. It is a superb and innovative British manufacturing company that is exporting most of its production and investing in skills for the long term.
Claire Perry (Devizes) (Con)
14. What recent progress his Department has made on implementing the recommendations of the report of Lord Davies on female representation on corporate boards.
The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)
Lord Davies’s report rightly challenges directors and investors to increase the number of women on boards. The report is already having an impact on FTSE 100 companies; some 21% of new board members appointed since February are women, up from 13% last year, but there is scope to do more. I fully support this initiative and will shortly consult on requiring quoted companies to publish the proportion of female directors and senior executives in their organisations.
Claire Perry
I thank my right hon. Friend for that encouraging reply. I am sure that he is very aware of the large body of evidence, including Lord Davies’s report, that associates a higher number of women on corporate boards with higher stock price performance and corporate returns. If that is right for the private sector, it should be right for the public sector. What is he doing to encourage the number of women in financial regulation posts in particular, and could we have a female head of the green investment bank?
Vince Cable
The starting point of the hon. Lady’s question is absolutely right, and I congratulate her on the effective pressure she brings to bear on the issue. Her central point is that having more women on boards has nothing to do with political correctness; it is about sensible economics, good business and tapping into the potential that women can bring. The force of her argument is reinforced by the statement made at the beginning of the week by leading institutional investors that they will punish companies that do not make progress in this area. I will certainly receive her CV for the green investment bank if that is what she has in mind.