These recommendations called for action by all relevant stakeholders and included a target of 33% women on FTSE 350 boards and 33% women in FTSE 100 leadership teams (comprising the executive committee and direct reports to the executive committee) by 2020.

This year the recommendations extend the target of 33% women to include FTSE 250 leadership teams by 2020.

The report also highlights a need for step change in pace as, with just under a third of FTSE 350 leadership roles going to women in the past year, this falls short of what is required to achieve the target. The review estimates that 40% of all appointments need to go to women over the next three years to achieve the 33% target.

The data collected shows that there was a minimal increase in the number of women on the combined executive committee and their direct reports in the FTSE 100 during the year (up from 25.1% last year to 25.2% this year).

Better progress was noted for Women on Boards. In the FTSE 100 the number of women on boards was up to 27.7% compared to 26.6% last year. Over a third of the FTSE 350 are already at 33% or more, or ‘on track’ to reach that target by 2020. There are now 10 all-male boards, including two recent additions at the beginning of November 2017.

A press release is available on the BEIS website here. The full report is available on the BEIS website here.  A recent report from Cranfield School of Management is available here.