Firms should ‘comply or explain’ on board diversity, says CBI

All listed companies should be required to measure their progress on improving diversity but there should be no quotas for the number of women on boards, the CBI has argued.

In its submission to the review being carried out by Lord Davies on increasing female representation in the boardroom, the business group called for the UK corporate governance code to be revised to require listed companies to report on diversity on a “comply or explain basis”. This would mean companies reporting on their progress towards internally-set targets and having to explain if they fail to deliver.