UK: Board diversity – Cranfield board diversity progress report published

Cranfield School of Management has published its latest report on Women on Boards. As well as setting out the most recent figures for the percentage of women holding directorships amongst the FTSE 350, the report includes details on how FTSE 100 companies, and a sample of 50 FTSE 250 companies, have complied with the provisions in the Governance Code on diversity which took effect for financial years beginning on or after 1 October 2012.

The report found that:

• as at 1 October 2013, the percentage of women on boards of FTSE 100 companies was 18.9% (compared to 17.4% in March 2013) and among the FTSE 250 the percentage stood at 14.9% (up from 13.3% in March 2013);
• in the six months to September 2013, 27.4% of new board appointments were women for the FTSE 100 and 29.3% for the FTSE 250;
• of the FTSE 100, 65% stated a clear policy on boardroom diversity in their annual report (FTSE 250: 18%) and 42% had or intended to set measurable targets (FTSE 250: 14%); and
• 29% of FTSE 100 companies addressed diversity in their board evalation process (FTSE 250: 24%) and 43% mentioned gender as an issue in relation to director succession planning (FTSE 250: 8%).

The report sets out some examples of the disclosures about board diversity contained in the annual reports reviewed.

The Cranfield Report, Women on Boards: Benchmarking adoption of the 2012 Corporate Governance Code in the FTSE 350, is available from the Cranfield School of Management website.