UK: Board diversity – progress on Davies Report recommendations

The Davies Review steering board has published its 2013 report on the progress being made in implementing the recommendations contained in the 2011 Davies Report on women on boards.  Cranfield School of Management has also published its 2013 report on women on boards, reflecting on progress during 2012.

Both reports note that, two years after the Davies Review, there are more women in the boardrooms of the UK’s top companies. As of 1 March 2013, within the FTSE 100:

• women now account for 17.3% of all directorships, up from 10.5% per cent in 2010;
• women accounted for 34% of all board appointments in 2012 (45 out of 134 appointments);
• there are currently 94 boards with female representation; and
• there are now 192 women directors on FTSE 100 boards, out of a total of 1,110.

The 2013 Cranfield report notes that the UK is on target to meet the recommendation in the original Davies Report to have 25% women on FTSE 100 boards by 2015, but notes that progress on new female appointments in the FTSE 100 stalled somewhat in the second half of 2012.

The reports also show that progress in implementing some of the specific recommendations in the original Davies Report remains slow. Only 39 FTSE 100 companies have set targets for the number of women they aim to have on their board by 2013 and 2015. The 2013 Davies progress report recommends that:

• FTSE 100 chairmen review their targets for 2015 and companies which have not yet set targets do so;
• FTSE 250 companies set targets for the number of women they aim to have on their board by 2015, with a minimum 25% target to be aimed for; and
• by the end of September 2013, FTSE 350 Chief Executives set out the percentage of women they aim to have in senior management by 2015.

The 2013 Davies progress report also notes the proposed European Directive on board gender diversity and urges businesses to take further voluntary action to avoid the need for European level action (see our November 2012 corporate and employment e-bulletin for further details on the draft Directive).

The Davies progress report is available on the BIS pages of the gov.uk website and the Cranfield annual report is available on the Cranfield School of Management website.