Financial sector feels positive about board positions for women, research finds ahead of Davies review report October 29, 2015 Nearly two-thirds (64 per cent) of finance directors think women have more opportunities to advance in finance and accounting than they did 10 years ago, research by specialist recruitment consultancy Robert Half UK has revealed today. The survey findings come ahead of a new report relating to the Lord Davies review of women on boards, published today. [...]
CBI/AECOM poll: infrastructure is a top concern for businesses trying to invest October 29, 2015 Nearly two-thirds of British businesses want the government to speed up delivery of promised infrastructure projects, according to a new poll out today from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and AECOM, the infrastructure services firm. Almost all – 94 per cent – of the firms surveyed said that the quality of infrastructure was a [...]
Lord Davies’ review: Government-backed report targets women holding one third of board seats by 2020 October 28, 2015 The Davies Review is setting a new target for a third of all board members at Britain’s biggest listed companies to be women, as a separate new study warns that the country’s boardroom diversity “risks going into reverse gear”. In his final Women on Boards report tomorrow, Lord Mervyn Davies, a former chairman and chief [...]
Lord Davies report: Britain’s boardroom diversity risks hitting the brakes as the number of female directors is set to fall October 28, 2015 The diversity of Britain’s boardrooms risks dropping over the next 18 months, just as women were starting to become a more common feature. Women currently make up 25 per cent of Britain’s blue-chip firms’ boards. But on the eve of Lord Davies’ review, which shows that UK companies managed to double the number of female [...]
House of Lords reform: 90 per cent of people say it needs a complete overhaul after tax credits vote October 28, 2015 Just ten per cent of British voters say the House of Lords should "remain as it is" following peers' votes on Monday night to delay the implementation of tax credit cuts. According to a new poll conducted by BMG Research for the Electoral Reform Society, a campaign group, nearly half (48 per cent) of people think the Lords should be an [...]
EU referendum: Bookies’ odds show increasing probability of Brexit October 28, 2015 The debate before the upcoming In/Out European Union referendum is hotting up, with polls showing results are likely to be increasingly close. And odds at one bookmaker is changing in response, with Betfair suggesting customers have been backing a UK exit from the EU. Read more: Report: Britain is the least "European" nation in the EU The [...]
Chuka Umunna and Vince Cable call for an end to “all-white” FTSE 100 boards October 28, 2015 Former shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna and former business secretary Vince Cable are calling on the government to set a target to eliminate "all-white" boards at Britain's blue-chip companies. Umunna and Cable said today that ethnic diversity among directors has "gone into reverse" and the government should step in. “Today, there are just four non-white CEOs [...]
EU referendum: Why the Brexit debate is a spark of hope for Europe, German pragmatism and British opposition should combine to prevent incompetent and unaccountable leadership October 28, 2015 The Brussels elite, not to mention the Paris political coterie, is once again expressing weariness at British criticism of the European Union. The diverse objections of the different Eurosceptic groups in Britain, seem to them, to confirm incompatibility of the UK with the EU. If Europe à la carte were at the heart of the [...]
The future of democracy must be digital: Our voting system needs to be modernised with electronic voting October 28, 2015 Yesterday’s Lords vote on the government’s move to speed up electoral registration changes should put the issue of voter turnout and participation firmly back on the agenda. The debate cannot end there. The new voter registration measures end the system under which the head of the household can sign up all its residents at once. [...]
EU referendum: Brexit could spell disaster for “brand” Britain risking less foreign investment and international trade October 28, 2015 The current debate about Britain’s future in the EU is a mixture of emotions, exaggeration and nostalgia. Without a pragmatic appraisal of the facts and consequences of the UK leaving the European Union, we could sleepwalk into a disaster. Ultimately, this would be a crisis, which could not only harm British brands but damage brand [...]