MPs have backed a motion calling on education minister Jet Bussemaker to scrap a database listing some 300 women considered good candidates for top jobs in industry.

The database was launched in March in response to complaints that there are not enough qualified women around to serve on the supervisory boards at the 200 biggest Dutch companies.

However, MPs from the ruling VVD drew up a motion calling on the minister to stop the project. Such a list is unfair competition with the private sector because recruitment and selection agencies have similar lists, they said.

The government’s target is to ensure 30% of supervisory and executive board members are female by 2016 but the figure is currently around 10%.

Without serious effort, the introduction of quotas remains an option, Bussemaker said at the database launch. ‘I’m not in favour of [quotas] but I will not rule out using them. Time is running out.’