Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of proposing gender quotas for businesses.

We believe that each country has a unique business environment. We are aware that quotas have driven progress in representation of women in a number of countries such as Norway, France and Italy. However, in the UK we have made excellent progress using a voluntary, business-led approach; for example we have seen the number of women on FTSE 350 boards more than double since 2010. We also have only nine all male boards remaining in the FTSE 350, and none in the FTSE 100. This is why we support the work of the Hampton-Alexander review, which sets voluntary targets for FTSE 350 companies to have 33% women on their boards and in their senior leadership positions by 2020. Currently, we believe this is the most effective approach and want to work collaboratively with businesses to ensure that progress on this agenda continues. We will continue to keep this approach under review.