Dan Jarvis – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Women and Equalities

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2016-01-27.

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, how many meetings she has had with chief executives of FTSE 100 companies since May 2015 at which she raised the issue of increasing the number of women on company boards.

Caroline Dinenage

The Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities and I have met with many business representatives since taking on our roles as Ministers for Women and Equalities. We have also met employers and business representatives as part of our plans to introduce gender pay gap reporting and always ensure that we use these opportunities to raise the issue of achieving a better gender balance on boards. This includes attending and speaking at conferences and events, including at the 30% Club and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which represents 190,000 businesses in the UK.

Since May 2015, we have met numerous business leaders at conferences and events, including meetings with:

• Lord Davies of Abersoch CBE

• Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith, CBE, CEO, Mitie Group PLC (in her capacity as Chair of the Women’s Business Council)

• Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith, CBE, CEO, Mitie Group PLC

• Cilla Snowball, CBE, Group Chairman and Group CEO, Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO

• Denis Woulfe, Partner, Deloitte LLP

• Emer Timmons, President, BT Global Services UK

• Fiona Dawson, Global President, Mars Food, Drinks, and Multisales, Mars Food

• Sue Langley, OBE, Non-Executive Chairman, A J Gallagher UK, UK Asset Resolution Limited (Northern Rock Asset Management and Bradford & Bingley)

• Sue O’Brien, OBE, Partner, Ridgeways Partners

• Amanda Harrison, HR Director, Centrica PLC

I also spoke at the launch of Lord Davies’s final report, which was attended by a large cross section of over 100 businesses.