Minister tells bosses: Take on staff from minorities

BUSINESS Minister Margot James has written to the chief executives of all FTSE 350 companies, urging them to improve diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

She wants firms to act on key recommendations from the review carried out by Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith, and published in February, into black and ethnic minority progression in the workplace. This includes publishing a breakdown of the workforce by race and pay, setting aspirational targets and nominating a board member to deliver on those targets.

James, who was appointed by Theresa May last summer, said: ‘It simply makes no sense for people to be left behind because of their ethnic background.’

She will chair the first meeting of a new Business Diversity and Inclusion Group ‘in the coming months’. Recently she chaired the first meeting of the Scale-Up Taskforce, set up to assess the barriers to growth facing smaller firms.

James has been Scale-Up Champion since the Government’s Industrial Strategy green paper was published in January. Regular meetings of the taskforce will be co-chaired by Sahar Hashemi, founder of the Coffee Republic chain.

At the same time, a new entrepreneurship review is now being led by Professor Tim Dafforn, chief entrepreneurial adviser at the Department for Business, to examine the journey from start-up to scale-up.

And the Patient Capital Review, announced in November, is being led by Damon Buffini, former head of private equity house Permira, to address a dearth of long-term capital investment in firms.