Lord Davies' report is being finalised this weekend and is expected to be published in the next month. It may even suggest that the financial crisis could have been tempered had more women been involved in regulation and running banks. Figures close to the committee said that they analysed what has been described as "strong evidence" on the issue.  The report will be one of the most comprehensive on the issue of women's representation in business. The committee of commissioners writing the report has received more than 2,600 submissions from many of Britain's leading businesses and academics.  David Cameron asked Lord Davies to conduct the review last summer. He was asked in particular to look at the example of Norway, where the government set a 40pc board quota in 2004 that all companies had to hit.  The policy is considered a success, with women's representation on boards now nearing the target from a low of 6pc in 2002.  Concerns about the calibre of candidates in Norway have abated, with studies suggesting that the standard of board appointments has risen.  Spain also set a quota in 2007 and France plans to impose a 20pc quota by 2012 and 40pc by 2016 for the country's 2,500 largest companies.  Lord Davies' report is likely to argue that the picture in Britain is starkly different. Theresa May, the Home Secretary and Minister for Women, is thought to be supportive of robust action being taken.  Research from Cranfield University highlighted the lack of female directors in Britain's top businesses, with women comprising 12.2pc of directors of FTSE 100 companies in 2009. The proportion of female directors at FTSE 250 companies is even lower at 7.3pc; nearly half of them do not have any women in the boardroom.  Five FTSE 100 companies have a female chief executive, including Angela Ahrendts of Burberry and Cynthia Carroll of Anglo American. Only two are British: Katherine Garrett-Cox of Alliance Trust and Alison Cooper at Imperial Tobacco.  Last week, the European Union's markets commissioner, Michel Barnier, said he was considering how to increase the representation of women at the top of companies.  "It's not only a question of fairness," he said. "The presence of women in the leadership of a country or a region or a business is a question of good governance for me." Asked if he would support the introduction of quotas to increase representation, he said: "I am open to this idea, and I'm not alone."  According to a 2010 survey for the European Women's Professional Network, conducted by the headhunters Russell Reynolds Associates, 11.7pc of board members of top European companies are women, an increase of 9.7pc from 2008. More than 35pc of directors of top companies in Norway are women, compared with less than 4pc in Italy and Portugal.  Barnier's comments came after Josef Ackermann, the chief executive of Deutsche Bank, sparked a row when he said that more senior women "will be more colourful and prettier".  The German consumer minister, Ilse Aigner, responded by saying: "If it's more colour or beauty you want, you should go to a flower garden."  Angela Merkel, the Chancellor, said that German companies had "one last chance" before enforcing change.  Banking and Finance vacancies at Telegraph Jobs
The Government inquiry into the "glass ceiling" faced by women    attempting to scale the corporate ladder is to reject calls for quotas to    promote female representation on boards.