Some companies have obscene and entirely unacceptable gender pay gaps of more than 40 per cent.

The UK has one of the highest gender pay gaps in Europe and pay reporting can only be the first step in closing it, the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee said in their recent report on ‘Gender pay gap reporting’.

The report, which was published last week, recommends a widening of the net of companies required to report and for companies to be required to publish action plans and narrative reports on what they are doing to close the gap.