As the government publishes its latest CSR report, the IPPR asks where the policy agenda will go from here.
Douglas Alexander’s replacement as e-envoy, Stephen Timms, now faces an eclectic inbox that spans corporate social responsibility, e-commerce and competitiveness. Given the scale of his remit, Timms may well feel CSR to be a low priority. Such a view would, in truth, be confirmed by the response to the Government’s 2002 annual statement on CSR.
Given the vagueness of the five priorities for action laid out in the statement, it is hardly surprising that the press deemed the DTI report ‘Business and society’ un-newsworthy.The uninspiring wish-list comprised raising the profile of CSR; facilitating good practice; ensuring CSR is part of organisations’ core operations; and promoting greater transparency on social and environmental impacts. Rather than setting out a programme of action or reform, the report takes stock of changes that are already underway and attempts to repackage them as a seamless CSR policy. Most fundamentally the DTI ducks the task of giving a clear message of what constitutes a responsible company. It would be understandable for any corporate executive or institutional investor to see the next few months as a period of respite from proving their caring credentials. But despite this it would be a risky strategy for either government or business to be complacent about CSR.
Promoting CSR within core company activities is critical to the delivery of important and controversial political objectives such as environmental sustainability and workforce equality. In a bid to join-up efforts to deliver such crossdepartmental objectives, Timms’ more thoughtful colleagues in DEFRA, the Treasury and Cabinet Office will look to him to rally corporate support for priority objectives such as greenhouse gas reductions and social inclusion. Clear, honest and meaningful reporting is necessary to grow market interest and support for such social and environmental goals. If companies do not take the initiative on the impact of their core operations, there is plenty of scope for government intervention. The challenge to business is to pre-empt this. The ambiguity at the heart of the recent CSR report must be addressed. The commendable statement that ‘the Government will focus firmly on mainstream actions rather than supporting peripheral or philanthropic involvement’ is diluted by talk exclusively of fiscal measures to encourage charitable giving and financial investment in deprived communities: precisely the ‘peripheral’ activity on which they claim not to want to focus. At the very least, all companies should promote diversity and equality within their workforce as well as ensure that all employees are able to maintain a sensible work-life balance and improve their skills. Environmental priorities include improving resource productivity, reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and waste. Individually, companies should disclose such non-financial impacts. But the story does not end with single business units. Sectors have got to accept that collective action is key to addressing some of the most intractable social and environmental problems.
At the launch of the DTI report Alexander reiterated his analogy of CSR as a journey along which organisations must progress. It is up to companies to decide if this will be a journey they lead on, or one along which they are frogmarched by public opinion.
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