Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent progress his Department has made on implementing the recommendations of the Parker Review on corporate boards.

Sir John Parker’s review is a business-led diversity initiative. He consulted on draft recommendations from November 2016 to February 2017, which the Government has endorsed.

Diversity and inclusion in the boardroom and the workplace is a hugely important element of building an economy that works for all. That is why I have created a Business Diversity and Inclusion Group to provide strategic leadership on this agenda, and to help deliver a clear and coordinated message to the business community on what they need to do. I have invited Sir John to participate alongside Sir Philip Hampton and Dame Helen Alexander, who are chairing a review aimed at increasing female leadership in FTSE companies, and Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith, who led a review examining the obstacles faced by businesses in developing BME talent from recruitment through to the executive level.

The Government will keep a close eye on how things develop and consider whether it needs to take further action once Sir John has finalised his recommendations later this year.