Umunna in appeal to end all-white boards of directors

The former shadow business secretary said ministers should mirror the successful approach taken to boost the number of women on boards over the past five years.

On Thursday, Labour peer Lord Davies is due to publish a final report on work commissioned by former Liberal Democrat business secretary Sir Vince Cable on increasing women’s representation at the top of Britain’s biggest firms.

In a Commons adjournment debate, Mr Umunna said Lord Davies had reached a “fantastic achievement” in ensuring in 2015 there are no all-male boards in the FTSE 100 and 26.1% of directors were women.

But Mr Umunna said the latest figures revealed there were just four non-white chief executives in the FTSE 100 and added: “There are simply too many people out there with the talent, with the ability, who are not being appointed. That is the reality of the situation in 2015.”

And turning to business minister Anna Soubry, Mr Umunna said: “What I am calling on ministers to do is set a target for ethnic minority representation on FTSE 100 boards to be met by 2020 - no all-white boards by 2020.

“I think that is a sensible target, the 2020 campaign led by Lenny Henry, Trevor Phillips, has suggested this, I think it is a reasonable one.

“Second, in 2013 the 2003 Companies Act was amended to require companies to include a breakdown of the number of female employees on boards, in senior management positions and in the company as a whole - do the same for ethnicity.

“If you don’t know the problem in your workplace then you can’t do anything about.

“Finally, Lord Davies, I think, has done a fine and excellent job on gender diversity. Commission him to do what he has done on gender for diversity - commission Lord Davies to carry out a similar review, and I praise the Government for its political will to make this happen on gender, into ethnic diversity too.”

Mr Umunna said he looked forward to tomorrow’s report but added: “We now need a crusade to ensure we see an increase in the number of female executive directors - it is a disgrace in 2015 there are so few women at CEO level in the FTSE 100 and beyond when there is such an abundance of talent out there.

“But this should not distract from being able to enjoy the moment tomorrow when Lord Davies presents his final report and reflects what has been achieved on gender.

“But if gender diversity has increased, the appalling lack of ethnic diversity in UK boardrooms persists and has actually gone into reverse in 2015. This is no way for our country to mark the 50th anniversary of the first Race Relations Act this year.”

Responding to the debate, Ms Soubry said she was in “listening mode” on the issue and told the Commons she was discarding the talking points provided by officials.

Ms Soubry warned she was wary of fresh regulation on business but praised Mr Umunna’s call for action on a “real problem”.

She said: “The Prime Minister has said we are going to increase the proportion of apprenticeships started by young people from BME communities by 20%. We are going to increase the number of students going to university by 20%, and we are going to work to ensure 20,000 of the start up loans are awarded to BME applicants by 2020.

“That’s all good and laudable. We have to make sure people from all backgrounds go into business - but you’re saying we can’t wait for all of that because we know we have people of ability now who are in business, who are more than capable of being at the upper echelons of those businesses but they are not getting there.”

She added: “You are absolutely right - if you don’t look at your business, your institution, whatever it is... then how do you know when you have a problem? There is a necessity for businesses to look at it.

“I absolutely know as a woman when you have got someone who has made it they can become an incredibly powerful force as a role model. I’m a huge fan of mentoring.

“I absolutely give an undertaking to go and speak to the Secretary of State (Sajid Javid) about this debate and the very powerful speech that has been made.

“I also undertake to talk about whether Lord Davies’ remit can be extended having done this great work.”