Will things change in the corporate responsibility field now that Gordon Brown as taken over as prime minister?
Does the arrival of a new PM signal a new approach to business/government relations? Certainly, Gordon Brown is unusual in signalling his intention to create a ‘government of many talents’. This involves bringing together the brightest and the best, regardless of their political persuasion.
One manifestation of this is the creation of the new Business Council for Britain. This comprises corporate leaders from companies that appear to have very different attitudes on the role of business in society. Briefing is sure that Stuart Rose and Sir Alan Sugar would enjoy a robust debate on the limits of corporate responsibility.
Another beneficiary of Gordon Brown’s new approach has been Sir Digby Jones, former Director-General of the Confederation for British Industry. He has accepted the position of minister of state for trade promotion and investment, overseeing UK trade and investment policies. Once a vocal critic of Tony Blair’s tendency to bend to unions, he now appears happy to work with the new regime.
Despite these examples of rapprochement, there does appear to be an interesting tension emerging. The new CSR minister, Stephen Timms, continues to hold the line (often espoused by the European Commission) that corporate responsibility is a voluntary activity. At the same time, business leaders in the PwC survey (reported right) are calling for more regulation on environmental behaviour. Given Gordon Brown’s sudden change to the company law review and the removal of the requirement for a mandatory Operating and Financial Review (OFR) we are unlikely to see this government move in that direction.
However, as Harold Wilson famously said, a week is a long time in politics. Our best advice is to watch this space very closely.
RELATED NEWS
Timms returns to CSR role
John Hutton, the secretary of state for business, enterprise and regulatory reform (the new name for the Department of Trade and Industry) has announced that the Rt. Hon. Stephen Timms MP will be in charge of corporate social responsibility in his new role as minister for enterprise and small business.
Mr. Timms will be a familiar face to many practitioners who will remember how effective he was in this role when he was last at the DTI in 2002/03. Among his many achievements was the creation of the CSR Academy which, as reported in Briefing 93, has recently been taken over by Business in the Community.
In the short time he has held the current position Mr. Timms has focused on consumer protection and support for small businesses – something which critics argue his predecessor Margaret Hodge often overlooked. He has also praised businesses with pioneering CSR initiatives, commenting in his first interview that “the strength of the corporate social responsibility movement is that it is business-led”, assuring the business community that there will not be a push for increased regulation over corporate responsibility.
Contact Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform 020 7215 5000 www.berr.gov.uk
Nationwide energy saving experiment
The government has signed contracts with EDF Energy, E.ON UK, Scottish and Southern Energy, and Scottish Power to embark on an energy saving experiment that will involve 40,000 households.
Participants will receive state of the art smart meters or real time display units that can be clipped on to their existing meters, both of which will encourage lower energy consumption. The trial aims specifically to:
1. Increase consumer communication and awareness on energy issues;
2. Compare responses from participants in both rich and poor areas;
3. Establish a way in which smart meters will be rolled out to all households in the next ten years.
Lord Hutton, secretary of state for business and enterprise, said: “The results of the trials will provide invaluable evidence to support the future rollout of displays and smart meters; helping to cut consumer bills and cut our carbon emissions.”
Gordon Brown, the new prime minister of the UK, has announced the formation of a Business Council for Britain to advise the government on issues affecting business and the British economy.
The new council is part of a drive by the PM to involve business more closely in government in an effort to inject private sector expertise into areas such as skills and business support reforms. It is expected that the council will:
1. advise the government on ongoing policies and priorities;
2. carry out reviews of areas it thinks will determine the long-term economic well-being of the UK; and
3. establish Special Commissions that will make recommendations for reform if an issue is of particular importance.
The council is made up of some of the most senior figures in the British business sector and will be chaired by Mervyn Davies, chairman of Standard Chartered. Other members are:
– Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Group
– Damon Buffini, Permira
– Sir William Castell, Wellcome Trust
– Sir Rod Eddington, News Corporation
– Dr. Jean Pierre Garnier, GlaxoSmithKline
– Stephen Green, HSBC
– Tony Hayward, BP
– Sir Terry Leahy, Tesco
– Sir John Parker, National Grid
– Sir John Rose, Rolls Royce
– Stuart Rose, Marks & Spencer
– Arun Sarin, Vodafone
– Dame Marjorie Scardino, Pearson
– Sir Alan Sugar, Amstrad
No. 10 has also announced that William Sargent, executive chair of the Better Regulation Executive will also attend meetings.
PricewaterhouseCoopers has produced a survey of 151 companies across a wide spectrum of industries, showing the extent to which businesses agree with government use of tax and regulation to help the environment.
Results showed that 97 per cent of companies expect to make changes in the next two to three years, and that 49 per cent did not feel current policy instruments encouraged significant behavioural change.
Sixty-six per cent specified that they would welcome the imposition of tax incentives to become carbon neutral.
Full results are published in Saving the planet – can tax and regulation help? available for download from the PwC website.
The New Local Government Network (NLGN) has published a report recommending the creation of a “local communities capital task force” of public and private sector experts to help develop local council economies.
Capital Ideas: Financing Future Local Economic Development explores a number of ways in which local governments can use private sector tools that allow them to maximise spending on public policy issues such as transport, housing and regeneration. Author of the report, Anthony Brand, recommended that local authorities be encouraged to use “all the levers available to them to attract private investment” in order to achieve public service goals.
Government increases support for social enterprise
Ed Miliband MP, former minister for the third sector and now minister for the cabinet office, announced a new initiative to increase public awareness of the social enterprise sector.
The move sees the Social Enterprise Coalition joining the core group of the Governance Hub, a government-funded expertise group for the voluntary sector, as part of a shift towards broadening the Hub’s remit beyond the needs of charities.
The Social Enterprise Coalition has also been chosen to train around 20 social entrepreneurs to act as ambassadors for the sector. The ambassadors’ role will be to educate the public on the scope and possibilities of social enterprise.
A separate programme sees the Office of the Third Sector, part of the Cabinet Office, funding seven social enterprise organisations a total of £3m over the next three years to increase the sectors involvement in the development of policy.
The seven organisations that will receive funding are the Social Enterprise Coalition, School for Social Enterprise, Social Firms UK, Co-ops UK, Prowess, Plunkett Foundation as well as a national social enterprise Olympics partnership led by Social Enterprise London.
The waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) regulation came into effect on July 1. The European Union legislation aims to reduwww.environment-agency.gov.ukce the waste from electrical and electronic equipment (EEE), it will encourage the treatment, reuse, recovery and recycling and environmental disposal of EEE, and it will also make producers of EEE responsible for the environmental impact of their products. The new regulation has implications for not only producers but also retailers and users of EEE.
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