Before I discuss the substance of the motion, it is important to make three brief observations for the record.
First, today we debate the need for greater gender balance among those in positions of leadership in business, but in so doing this House and the Government should acknowledge their own failings in this area. Just 22% of the current Members of this House and just four—18%— of the Cabinet are women. That is a disgraceful state of affairs in 2013. Labour Members are proud that 33% of the parliamentary Labour party and almost 40% of the shadow Cabinet are women, but we all need to do better. By all means we should debate the matter, but we in this House are certainly in no position to lecture.
Secondly, the subject of the motion is gender balance, but, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Leicester East (Keith Vaz) said, it is important to note that there is woeful under-representation on company boards in other respects that must be addressed too. For example, according to the latest research from Cranfield university, just 5.7% of FTSE 100 directors are drawn from an
ethnic minority while the new census figures indicate that 14% of the population is now from a non-white background. How can we inspire young black and Asian Britons to reach for the top when they see so few people who look like them in our boardrooms, never mind here in Parliament?
Thirdly, diversity in executive directorships also matters, as does the diversity of the boards of directors of non-listed private companies. I think that Sir Richard Branson has made that point, too.
We cannot stand idly by on other issues of representation in the leadership positions that people hold in modern Britain. Today, however, we are bound to focus on the issue of gender balance among non-executive directors of listed companies, because that is the subject of the draft directive and the motion.
Two central questions flow from the motion. The first is whether we should take action, and if so what sort, in relation to the gender balance on the boards of listed companies. The second is whether that action should be taken at the level of the European Union. As the noble Labour Lord and former Business Minister in the Labour Government, Lord Davies, made clear in his excellent February 2011 report, “Women on boards”, despite some progress under the previous Government, the representation of women on boards in this country is woefully low, as the Minister has set out today.
In 2003 we set up the Higgs review into corporate governance, which called for greater diversity on our corporate boards. In percentage terms, female-held directorships in the FTSE 100 doubled under the previous Labour Government, but I am clear that we must concede, with regret, that despite that, progress was lacking, with—I think the Minister cited the figure—women holding just 12.5% of FTSE 100 directorships when we left office in 2010. As Lord Davies pointed out, if that rate of change continued, it would have taken about 70 years to achieve some level of parity.
As Lord Davies made clear, there is as much a moral imperative to change this state of affairs as there is a strong business case to do so. The Minister has echoed those sentiments. I do not believe that this is a matter of party political discord.