The call for evidence closed yesterday - Lord Davies will now consider the wealth of ideas put forward, before putting recommendations to Government in February 2011.

In recent weeks Lord Davies has also met with a number of interested groups, from institutional investors to representatives of the recruitment profession, to further discuss and debate the reasons why there is a lack of female representation in so many company boardrooms across the country. Many ideas have come out of these meetings, with suggestions including trial periods in the style of internships on company boards and looking at ways to widen the talent pool by allowing recruitment from the services sector.

Vince Cable Business Secretary said:

"I welcome all the hard work that Lord Davies and his team are putting into this important review. It's not acceptable that just 12% of directors of FTSE 100 companies are women - and this is almost a decade after a comparable initiative to boost representation of women on company boards.

"I hope to see more businesses get behind this work and I look forward to seeing the full results of this review in the new year. In BIS I am setting up an advisory group of entrepreneurs, 80% of whom are women, and I hope this will promote a model for diversity."

Whilst the evidence collected for this review shows that there is much to be done to achieve acceptable levels of female representation in British boardrooms, some companies are to be recognised for the steps they have already taken to achieve this. The Cranfield Female FTSE 100 report launched today shows a number of companies are leading the way in changing things at the top.

The top five companies with the best female representation on their boards in the UK are:

Burberry Group (37.5%)
Diageo PLC (36.4%)
Alliance Trust (33.3%)
British Airways PLC (30%)
Pearson (30%)
Lord Davies said:

"It is right that we recognise the companies that are leading the way in encouraging diverse representation in their boardrooms. However, there is still much more to be done and it is shocking that almost half of the FTSE 250 businesses do not even have a female board member.

"It is encouraging that this issue has received a lot of debate in recent weeks, but for real progress the whole of the corporate sector, government and the head-hunting industry must come together and get behind this."

The Female FTSE Board Report 2010 is to be launched today by Cranfield University School of Management.