All executive search firms have been urged by the Business Secretary, Vince Cable to publish the numbers of men versus women they place in senior positions. This emphasis on transparency will help highlight those firms that are going the extra mile to find high calibre female candidates and tackle gender imbalance in UK companies.

Young black men have experienced the sharpest rise in unemployment since the coalition came to power, with more than one in four of all black 16-24-year-olds currently out of work, according to a TUC report on youth unemployment.