Patricia Hewitt has welcomed figures showing that the number of female company directors has passed the 100 mark.

However, published on Tuesday, the report highlights that 32 of the FTSE 100 companies still have no women on their boards.

A further nine companies on the index have up to 30 per cent women representation on their boards, while two - Astra Zeneca and Marks and Spencer - have four women directors.

There is still only one female chief executive and one chairwoman among the leading companies, according to the statistics.

"It is obviously good news that more boards are taking on female directors and drawing on the pool of talent available to them, but this report shows that there is still much more to be done," said the industry secretary, who is also minister for women.

"Women have trouble breaking into the boardroom in some companies, and even this year just one in 12 of FTSE 100 directors are women. That's not representative of their staff or their customers.

"Research shows that companies with a good mix at the top have better corporate governance records and tend to be at the top in terms of market capitalisation."

A co-author of the report, Dr Val Singh, said: "The increase of all these statistics is encouraging, but there is still much to do to identify and deal with the barriers for women in middle management, the next generation of women business leaders.

"So many companies seem surprised that high-flying women leave or stagnate in mid-career."

Liberal Democrats called on shareholders to push for more women directors.

"Shareholders should be demanding more women directors on the grounds that it will help companies connect better with their customers," said trade and industry spokesman Malcolm Bruce.

"The evidence points to the fact that more balanced boardrooms perform better than those dominated by the old boy network."