Bosses may have to disclose pay gap with workers

LEADING chief executives may be forced to disclose the gap between their salaries and those of their employees as the Government reignites its industrial strategy.

Under the plans the UK’S 1,000 largest listed companies will need to come clean on their executive pay policies by publishing the ratio between what the chief executive takes home and earnings of their average UK worker.

Alongside its crackdown on “fat cat pay”, Government is expected to revive its industrial strategy next week with a launch event for the first report on how to stimulate Britain’s economy – with the £60bn life sciences sector the first to go under the microscope.

The report, authored by Sir John Bell, the Canadianbritish immunologist and geneticist, will lay out recommendations to boost the 220,000-strong UK drugs sector through new investment and cutting red tape.

The Daily Telegraph has learned pharmaceutical industry leaders have been invited to the unveiling on Wednesday at Birmingham’s Institute of Translational Medicine, a clinical research facility opened two years ago. It is expected to be hosted by Sir John and a Government minister, with Greg Clarke, the Business Secretary thought to be the most likely candidate.

The Government will hope the revival of its industrial strategy will help it reset its relationship with business, after an election campaign roundly panned for being anti-enterprise.

Life sciences was one of five “winners” picked by Theresa May under her industrial strategy in January.