{"id":80092,"date":"2017-03-28T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-28T08:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=d4e145edff57a15233796fea98b94cbc"},"modified":"2017-03-28T08:30:00","modified_gmt":"2017-03-28T08:30:00","slug":"press-release-business-minister-margot-james-urges-ftse-350-chief-executives-to-improve-diversity-and-inclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=80092","title":{"rendered":"Press release: Business Minister Margot James urges FTSE 350 chief executives to improve diversity and inclusion"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<div class=\"call-to-action\">\n<ul>\n<li>FTSE 350 companies asked to drive increased diversity in the workplace<\/li>\n<li>UK\u2019s largest companies urged to take up McGregor-Smith Review recommendations<\/li>\n<li>Margot James to chair the first meeting of the new Business Diversity and Inclusion Group in the coming months<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>In her letter, she called on the UK\u2019s largest companies to take up key recommendations from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/increase-in-bme-workplace-progression-could-give-uk-economy-a-24bn-boost-baroness-mcgregor-smith-review-finds\">Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith Review<\/a> into black and ethnic minority progression in the workplace, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>publishing a breakdown of their workforce by race and pay<\/li>\n<li>setting aspirational targets<\/li>\n<li>nominating a board member to deliver on those targets<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Business Minister Margot James said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>It simply makes no business sense for people to be left behind because of their ethnic background and I am asking FTSE 350 companies to play their part in driving the agenda for greater diversity in the workplace.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Genuine and lasting change must come from within the business community and I encourage companies to take forward Baroness McGregor-Smith\u2019s recommendations.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Baroness McGregor Smith, who published her independent review last month, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I\u2019m delighted to see the government playing its part in calling on the UK\u2019s largest businesses to improve diversity and inclusion in the workplace.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">FTSE 350 companies must help to bring about change by committing to greater transparency and accountability on this vitally important issue as set out in the recommendations in my review.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In the coming months, Margot James will chair the first meeting of the Business Diversity and Inclusion Group set up following the publication of the McGregor-Smith Review.<\/p>\n<p>The group will bring together business leaders and organisations to coordinate action to remove barriers in the workplace.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"further-information\">Further information<\/h2>\n<p>The Business Inclusion and Diversity Group, chaired by Margot James, will include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Baroness McGregor-Smith<\/li>\n<li>Sir Philip Hampton and Dame Helen Alexander, who are leading a review aimed at increasing female leadership in FTSE companies<\/li>\n<li>Sir John Parker, who has concluded a consultation on recommendations to increase BME representation in the boardroom<\/li>\n<li>the CBI, IoD, Business in the Community, Financial Reporting Council and Equality and Human Rights Commission to participate<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FTSE 350 chief execs called on to take up McGregor-Smith Review recommendations on black and ethnic minority progression in the workplace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80092"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80092\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}