Question

To ask the Ministers for Women and Equalities, what assessment she has made of the auditing by accountancy firms of their appointment of women to their boards.

Government regulations (effective from 1^st October 2013) apply to quoted companies in the UK to disclose the numbers of men and women on boards, in senior management and in the business as a whole. This aims to help companies to spot areas of talent block within their own organisations.

We follow a voluntary approach in the UK to increase the numbers of women on boards and engage closely with organisations who are active on building the pipeline of female talent such as the 30% Club.

In 2012, the 30% Club carried out research with one of the leading global management consulting firms, McKinsey & Company to aggregate results looking into the numbers of women in UK partnerships in Professional Services Firms. Their study made recommendations to help firms get more women to the top. Many of these firms including KPMG, Deloitte, Linklaters and PWC are members of the 30% Club (at Chairmen and CEO level) whose goals are to achieve better gender balance at all levels of an organisation.

This approach complements the work and progress of the Lord Davies business-led initiative to achieve 25% of women on boards by 2015.