Board Diversity and Inclusion Statement
A culture which is inclusive and supports diversity is essential to the long-term success of our business and better enables us to respond to our stakeholder needs. We understand that a diverse Board brings a broad range of perspectives, insights and challenge which supports sound decision making. The Board sets the tone for inclusion and diversity across the business and we believe in having a diverse leadership team and an open and inclusive culture.
We believe a truly diverse Board will include and make good use of differences in the skills, experience, background and lived experiences between Directors. These differences will be considered in determining the optimum composition of the Board and when possible, should be balanced appropriately. All Board appointments are made on merit, in the context of the skills, experience, independence and knowledge which the Board as a whole requires to be effective.
Implementation
- In reviewing Board composition, the Nomination Committee will consider the benefits of all aspects of diversity in order to enable the Board to discharge its duties and responsibilities effectively.
- In identifying suitable candidates for appointment to the Board, the Committee will consider candidates on merit against objective criteria and with due regard for the benefits of diversity on the Board.
- As part of the annual performance evaluation of the effectiveness of the Board, Board Committees and individual Directors, the Board will consider the balance of skills, experience, independence and the diversity representation of the Board, including gender, how the Board works together as a unit, and other factors relevant to its effectiveness.
Our Board’s Diversity
The Board currently numbers eight in total, comprising the Chair, two executive Directors and five independent Non-Executive Directors. At present, three of the eight Board members are women, representing 37.5%.
Subject to the overriding principles and other factors set out above, our gender target for the Board is 40% women and at least one of the senior board positions (Chair, CEO, CFO or SID) being held by a woman. We are not currently meeting these targets and provide further explanation on this in our Annual Report. Our ethnicity target is to have at least one member of the Board from an ethnic minority background excluding white ethnic groups (as set out in categories used by the Office for National Statistics) and we have met this target.