Women in Finance Awards: City Minister's speech
Steve Barclay's speech at the first Women in Finance Awards.
It is great to be here to recognise and celebrate the achievements of .
Tonight is a chance to celebrate diversity.
The challenge
The government is an active participant in delivering much needed change through the Treasury바카라 사이트™s Women in Finance initiative.
We are one of the first countries to require mandatory gender pay gap reporting. This is particularly relevant in financial services which is the UK바카라 사이트™s highest paid sector and yet has one of the widest gender pay gaps.
Many of the firms represented in the room this evening will be reporting a gender pay gap this year.
The £5 million fund for returnships announced at the Budget is also a step forward.
Initiatives like the Hampton-Alexander review and the efforts of the 30% Club have helped the number of female board members double in five years.
But we still have all male boards in the FTSE 250. The number of female CEOs and chairs is still strikingly low. And executive committees are even less diverse than boards, with only 14% female representation. We should be in no doubt that there is still much to do.
And this underlying problem is illustrated by the fact that firms hire a higher proportion of women, but fail to hold on to them.
Why it matters to me
As a proud dad to a much loved daughter, I want her to achieve her full potential, not be held back by out of date attitudes or structural barriers to her progress.
This is a room full of confident women 바카라 사이트“ experts and leaders in their fields. But I have personally seen how confidence 바카라 사이트“ or the lack of it 바카라 사이트“ can hold back good women candidates if they think they don바카라 사이트™t meet every single criteria for the next job. And closer to home when some question whether a career break has undermined their qualifications, doubting the talents they have built up over a career or the new skills acquired out of the office.
So tonight바카라 사이트™s event 바카라 사이트“ shining a spotlight on female excellence and achievement 바카라 사이트“ is also a signal. It is just as important to those outside this room, across the industry, following in your footsteps.
One of my predecessors as City Minister, Harriet Baldwin, helped set up and led the women in finance initiative. But subsequent Ministerial responsibility moved to the Commercial Secretary Lucy Neville-Rolfe. There was a question last week when ministerial Responsibilities were being assigned as to whether it should now pass to the Chief Secretary, Liz Truss.
But I wanted to lead on this campaign because it matters to all ministers, and I see it as a fundamental part of my responsibilities as City Minister. So I hope you will not hold my gender against me, in questioning whether as a bloke I will be up to the job.
Women in Finance Charter
Tonight is an opportunity for me to promote specifically the Women in Finance Charter, and reflect on the excellent report by Jayne-Anne Gadhia of Virgin Money that inspired it.
The recommendations in Jayne-Anne바카라 사이트™s report led to a charter that is flexible enough for any firm, large or small, to follow.
But something serious enough to make a real difference.
The charter is simple. It doesn바카라 사이트™t tell companies who to hire, or how to run their businesses.
But it does ask them to make a real commitment to supporting women and their progression to more senior roles.
It asks them to set their own targets for what that looks like.
To measure their progress in achieving them 바카라 사이트“ and make that progress public.
I simply don바카라 사이트™t buy the argument of those firms who say they cannot do this.
The charter does not prevent firms focusing on other aspects of diversity, and if we are to meet the economic and political challenges ahead, we need a meritocracy which promotes diversity across all areas, including LGBT, class, and geography.
So if your firm is not one of the over 120 firms that have signed up, covering over half a million members of staff 바카라 사이트“ more than half of the financial sector staff 바카라 사이트“ then please raise it with your executives tomorrow.
If their response is unsatisfactory 바카라 사이트“ please write to me to let me know. This is an issue I will raise directly in meetings with firms, and your feedback will be helpful.
Recognising talent tonight
The women who are nominated for a here tonight are examples and advocates of the talent the industry will stand to gain if we get it right.
I am delighted that on table 3 we have a number of our country바카라 사이트™s top civil servants, who demonstrate the talent, expertise and professionalism we gain from senior Women in Finance.
And I know this agenda matters to the Prime Minister. She set up the Women-to-win scheme with Baroness Jenkins to bring a new generation of talented women into Parliament.
So congratulations to all the nominees this evening.
Let me wish you a wonderful evening, as we celebrate what Woman in Finance are achieving.