With the leave of the House, Madam Deputy Speaker, I will respond briefly to all the points raised. First, I shall deal with the last one by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Skipton and Ripon (Julian Smith). I do so not least because this morning my wife and I attended the three-month scan of our new baby—we did so together, of course. I can
understand why the Whips are looking worried about need for paternity leave coming down the track.
I will make three quick points. I think that the whole House has recognised the first of these, but I wish to put it in stark terms. The UK has had the fastest rise in the number of women on boards in the EU, bar three countries. Our rise has been faster than that of Germany, the Netherlands and Spain; we have been faster than all but three of the 27 member states.
On the point about whether it is good business to have women on boards, the evidence is very clear. The Bundesbank evidence was cited and I have read it in detail. It was analysis of the impact on risk, but it omitted the banks that had been rescued because they had been too risky—that is a bit like looking into the risk of the British banking system but omitting RBS. So it is a partial report, but the evidence is uncontroversial.
Finally, I come to the point raised by the Chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee. The rules are clear: if a third of member Parliaments cite a reasoned amendment and reject the proposal, the Commission must consider again. As far as we know, eight member Governments and Parliaments are against, which is just under a third, as there are 27 members, and about a third of member states are yet to be clear in their position. If this motion goes through tonight, that eight will rise to nine. So I have some confidence that he will be happy with the outcome of the process and that we can ask the Commission to look again at this proposal. I commend the motion to the House.
Question put and agreed to.
Resolved,
That this House considers that the draft Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on improving the gender balance among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges and related measures (European Union Document No. 16433/12 and Addenda 1 to 3) does not comply with the principle of subsidiarity for the reasons set out in Chapter 1 of the Twenty-third Report of the European Scrutiny Committee (HC 86-xxiii); and, in accordance with Article 6 of Protocol No. 2 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, instructs the Clerk of the House to forward this reasoned opinion to the Presidents of the European Institutions.