I think it will help, and I pay tribute to my hon. Friend’s work on this issue since entering the House.
Transparency is putting pressure on companies to change. The Association of British Insurers and the National Association of Pension Funds are now reporting the number of women on boards and incorporating the figures into the voting information service for investors. Some asset management companies, including that run by the co-operative movement, which Labour Members are close to, have started to request data about board compositions from companies in which they invest. The Government have nudged the private sector to do more, and they are doing more, going with the grain of business and encouraging investor-led decisions to get more women on boards.
The UK is right with its approach of focusing on pipeline. Because companies are being forced to report on the number of women on their boards and the number of female employers, industry groups, mentoring
groups and board clubs, which have been mentioned, are springing up, and head-hunters have now signed up to a code of conduct.
The UK is also right to look at overall numbers. My hon. Friend the Member for Esher and Walton (Mr Raab) mentioned the drop-off rate when women have children. This is where the EU proposals are so hypocritical. Its equality policies have focused too much on length of leave and rights, and not enough on how to keep women and employers engaged. Here again, the Government have taken the right decision by pushing ahead with right to request, maternity legislation and in relation to child care. As has been mentioned, the main reason the change is happening is the rapid change in social attitudes; we have much more enlightened employers. I know that the City got a hard time earlier in the debate, but in fact the American banks I was working with as a head-hunter were the most forward-thinking on this issue. We also have more enlightened men now. My wife is expecting a baby in a couple of weeks—[Interruption.] Thank you. Only three months ago, I was making the case that she should stay off work for a year to look after our child, but I have since seen the error of my ways and realised that her career is more important. I will be looking to the Minister for nappy changing advice—I hear that he is an expert—in order that I can fill the gap.
Attitudes at home and attitudes in the workplace driven by national Governments nudging business to look at the business logic of maximising women in the workplace are what is going to get us there much better and much smarter than this EU diktat.
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