Lack of ethnic diversity on a fifth of FTSE firms’ boards

MORE than a fifth of the UK’s leading companies still have no ethnic diversity across their boards, according to a report.

Of the blue-chip companies on the FTSE 100, 21 had an allwhite board as of November 2020. Another three companies did not respond to inquiries by the Parker Review, which has been looking into ethnic diversity on boards, while two were not able to give the data.

The figures show the slow progress being made to encourage diversity in the top ranks of British business.

Ethnic minorities still make up just 12pc of directors at FTSE100 firms, largely unchanged on a year earlier, and only a third identify as British citizens, the Parker Review, set up by the Government in 2015, found. Just five chief executives come from ethnic minority backgrounds, down from six a year earlier, and all are men.

While the overall percentage of minority directors has remained near-flat, the number of companies who still need to appoint a minority director to hit the Parker Review’s ‘One by 2021’ target has shrunk from 31 to 21. And another seven companies said they had appointed a minority director since the Review’s cut-off date for responses in November.

Sir John Parker, a former Cabinet Office director and chairman of Pennon, who led the inquiry said: ‘Achieving this result demonstrates committed leadership by FTSE 100 chairs, their boards, and the headhunting community, to align with the review’s ethnic diversity objectives.

‘Corporate Britain, in my view, is becoming more comfortable with boardroom diversity. I believe too that the majority of FTSE board leaders want British companies to be seen not only as the best governed in the world, but also comprising of society’s best diverse talents.’

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: ‘The progress made in the past year to increase ethnic diversity on FTSE boards is very promising.’