Out of all FTSE 100 companies, 94 had a board member from a minority ethnic group, as of March, following the Parker Review which set a ‘One before 2021’ target in 2017 when just 51% met this criterion.
By the December 2021 deadline, 89 companies were able to show ethnic diversity on their board, up by 15 from the previous year.
Three blue-chip companies said they were in advanced stages of the recruitment process, while the remaining three have not shown any commitment towards the target.
One of these three companies is being acquired by an American group and will soon de-list, another is an unnamed Russian steel and mining company that will soon be removed from the index and the last one is a UK subsidiary of a US-based group, Ernst & Young said.
Just six companies had a chief executive or chief financial officer director from an ethnic minority.
Sir John Parker, chairperson of the Parker Review Committee (PRC), called it a “success” and said it “places UK listed companies at the forefront of global governance, gender and ethnic diversity, [which] will be a winning combination in a competitive world with fast-changing demographics”.
“We want to foster a business environment in the UK where people have equal opportunity to succeed and progress in their career through merit and ability, rather than their ethnic background,” Kwasi Kwarteng MP, Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), commented.
All FTSE 100 companies responded to the voluntary census, which was jointly carried out by the PRC and BEIS.
“Companies should not think of the Parker Review targets as ‘one and done,’ we hope companies will follow the most diverse of their peer group and expand the scale and depth of initiatives fostering inclusion and diversity,” David Tyler, co-chair of the PRC, said.
Meanwhile, FTSE 250 companies have been given the same target but with a 2024 deadline, with 51%, or 128, of them having ethnic minority representations on their board as of December.
Some 233 mid-cap companies responded to the survey, of which 16 chief executives were from ethnic minorities.
“FTSE 250 companies also continue to make good progress; with three years to go on their target, over half have people from minority ethnic communities in their boardrooms,” Parker added.
A similar programme to the Parker Review was conducted in recent years with female directors, finding that 44% of the minority ethnic directors were women on FTSE 250 boards.
This was a major progression from 2019 where it was found that more FTSE 100 chief executives were likely to be called Stephen or Steve than they were to be a woman, while they were equally likely to be called David or Dave (six) as they were women, according to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.