Of the 8%, only 1.5% are UK citizens despite the fact that 14% of the UK population is from a BAME background.

Over half (53) of the FTSE 100 companies do not have any BAME directors and only nine people from BAME backgrounds hold the position of chair or CEO.

The FRC’s Corporate Culture Review, said: ‘The role of the director is changing, with inevitable implications for the skillset, diversity and experience that directors will add to the Board in the future. Certainly, directors will need to become more culturally aware, more tuned in and more knowledgeable about human behaviours and relationships.’

Therefore the Parker Review has outlined goals and recommendations to increase ethnic diversity of the FTSE boards. It calls for human resources teams for all FTSE companies to identify qualified people from BAME backgrounds to be considered when vacancies occur.

The review also recommends that the Standard Voluntary Code of Conduct be extended to apply to the recruitment of minority ethnic candidates.

The review mentions that FTSE boards should do more to develop and promote employees from BAME backgrounds within their organisations as well as mentoring them so that they are ready to take on senior managerial or executive positions internally or externally.

It also suggested that a description of the board’s policy on diversity should be set out in a company’s annual Review, and this should include a description of the company’s efforts to increase, ethnic diversity within its own organisation, including at board level.

Companies that do not meet the board’s recommendations would then have to disclose in the annual Review why the targets have not been met.

Sir John Parker, head of the Parker Review, said: ‘The Boardrooms of Britain’s leading companies do not reflect the ethnic diversity of either the UK or the stakeholders that they seek to engage and represent. Ethnic minority representation in the Boardrooms across the FTSE 100 and 250 is disproportionately low.

‘Many business leaders would agree that Boards that embrace gender and ethnic diversity benefit in their decision making, by drawing on an array of skills, experience and diverse views. We hope the recommendations made for consultation, will heighten awareness of the growing pool of talent in the ethnic community, and help to strengthen Boardrooms across the UK and keep corporate Britain at the forefront of global business.’

A consultation period is now open for comments to be taken and a report containing the final recommendations and findings of the review will be published in 2017.

Margot James, business minister, said: ‘Businesses of all sizes need to take positive steps to ensure they are not seen as out of touch, to demonstrate that they are operating for the benefit of the many, not the privileged few.

‘So we must ensure that business leaders are more representative of the people that work for them, and of the customers and communities they serve. But while there has been an improved focus on gender diversity in recent years, the attention given to ethnic diversity has been minimal.’

Number of BAME diectors at FTSE 100 companies

The Parker Review, A Report into the Ethnic Diversity of UK Boards, is available here.