Spot the CSR Minister

May 20, 2005

Following May’s General Election, tracking down the new minister in charge of corporate social responsibility proved to be a somewhat frustrating task.

It’s not unusual to come across a little confusion in the corridors of Whitehall in the aftermath of an election. An incoming administration often wants to stamp its mark by appointing new ministers, or even by re-branding government departments. Even so, tracking down the new minister in charge of corporate social responsibility proved to be a somewhat frustrating task.

With four ministers in as many years taking the portfolio, we were hardly waiting with bated breath to find out who had replaced Nigel Griffiths, minister in charge of CSR in the previous administration. Mr Griffiths, who was also responsible for social enterprise and small businesses in the DTI, was promoted to deputy leader of the House of Commons in the recent reshuffle.

The Department of Trade & Industry (DTI) became the Department for Productivity, Energy and Industry (DPEI), only to revert back to the DTI a week later, confusing things somewhat. But on the third frustrating day of phone calls, Corporate Citizenship Briefing finally tracked down the man tasked with shaping Britain’s CSR policy. It is none other than Malcolm Wickes, new arrival in the DPEI, as Minister of State for Energy and sustainability and the environment. But “CSR” as such is nowhere to be seen under his list of duties on the DTI’s website.

A DTI press officer assures us that “sustainability and the environment” now encompasses CSR. However, this does not signal a change in emphasis, nor a change in policy. The same happened to construction, she added (the DTI had received several calls complaining this brief had been jettisoned too). Very confusing.

The change in responsibilities comes at a crucial time for CSR in Britain. Mr Timms, and then most recently Mr Griffiths at the DTI, both made substantial progress in this area, pushing CSR into mainstream business practices.

With the emphasis firmly on CSR as integral to the way companies conduct business in society, rather than government regulation of such, CSR fitted snugly with the small business and social enterprise activities within the DTI. Now under the new DPEI, Alun Michael, Minister of State for Industry and the Regions takes on social enterprise and small business.

In fact, ‘mainstreaming’ CSR took on such importance that the DTI set up the CSR Academy to promote learning and integrate CSR into businesses practices.

The UK is certainly considered to be an international leader in CSR. To this end, Mr Griffiths launched the UK’s international framework on CSR in March to promote best practice, encourage innovation and bring together governments and organisations “to address the challenges of sustainable development”.
Furthermore, sustainability is clearly a top priority for the government. With much fanfare, Prime Minister Tony Blair launched Britain’s Sustainable Development Strategy 2005 in early March, including an action plan to promote sustainable procurement across government. The sustainable procurement taskforce reports to both Defra and the Treasury.

It’s early days yet, but the reorganisation arguably leaves the government’s CSR policy in a state of disarray. Responsibility for sustainability now lies in three departments – the DTI, the Treasury and Defra, while environment appears to lie in the DTI and Defra. Certainly it’s hard to escape the conclusion that while the government is happy to travel on the CSR bandwagon, demanding greater social repsonsibility from companies, it continues to lack a coherent understanding of the concept.

Oliver Wagg is Managing Editor of Corporate Citizenship Briefing.

COMMENTS