British Water chief pledges to up diversity in the company and its board

British Water chief executive, Lila Thompson, has pledged to up the gender diversity of the company to 30% female by 2025 while increasing also the proportion of employees from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) origins.

Thompson (pictured centre) is the only woman and BAME member of British Water’s board of 12. She announced her aim to make “positive changes” to address the lack of diversity in the non-executive board. She urged other leaders in the UK water industry to take action to tackle the lack of diversity.

Quoting figures from Energy & Utility Skills she said that while 20% of the industry’s workforce is female, compared to 47% for all sectors. And 4% of water sector staff is from a BAME background compared with 15% all UK industry.