Government announces next steps towards scaling up Corporate Responsibility and Open Business

Corporate responsibility, Sustainability

In September 2010 I reflected on the merits of the Government launching an Open Business Responsibility Deal.  Today at the BITC Summit in London – with our new Minister for Corporate Responsibility Norman Lamb looking on – I was delighted to see the idea developed into two distinct strands as the Prime Minister announced:

– Open Business Forum: This will “bring together companies and organisations who, like government, believe in the power of transparency and are eager to embed openness in the way they do business. It will explore how businesses can become more transparent, without making life difficult, and identify where government can help. The Forum, will be business-led and free to shape its own detailed objectives based on the priorities of members… Members of the Open Business Forum include; Chair – Philip N Green, Government Adviser on Corporate Responsibility; Aviva; Business In The Community; Carillion; E.ON; Excell Group; Procter & Gamble; Sir William Wells; Trading for Good and Waitrose. The Forum will also be welcoming new members over the coming months.”

– Trading for Good: Being developed by Excell this is “a new online directory for SMEs that will showcase the good work they do in the community; and provide free toolkits to help businesses get involved in socially responsible practices.”  Excell report it will launch in February.  Also involved in the project led by the Every Business Commits Forum are “the British Retail Consortium, the Institute of Directors, the Forum of Private Business, Dods, Visa Europe, Ernst & Young, Itineris and Eyebright Media.”

I hope the Trading for Good website will extend to offer a kitemark for participating SMEs and also the option of submitting their light touch reports to Companies House (as Community Interest Companies already do).  This should enhance the credibility of the approach.

Also announced was Workality.  The website, which is to launch later this year, has founding sponsors that include: “Serco; Centrica; Eversheds; Engine; Mcdonald’s; Salesforce.com. With support from charities including the IEBE and The Ideas Foundation. And receiving advice and support from leading technology providers such as Facebook, Microsoft, Google, IBM, LinkedIn, Cisco and Blackberry.”

Together all these initiatives have the potential to change the internet landscape for corporate responsibility in the UK.  However, vitally important too will be the work of individuals and networks that support businesses developing their responsible business practices on the ground – as well as continued innovation by Government to encourage responsible business practice.

Work experience and internships: does pay matter?

The idea that left me least convinced today was the Prime Minister’s assertion that: “Put a young person into college for a month’s learning, unpaid – and it’s hailed as a good thing.  Put a young person into a supermarket for a month’s learning, unpaid – and it’s slammed as slave labour.”  Surely when Tescos, Argos and Poundland are reflecting on the concerns about the race to the bottom (deflationary pressure on wages and jobs) that these “workfare” schemes could trigger it is time for Number 10 to take note.   Tescos particularly suggest in theirstatement that the “risk of losing benefits that currently exists should be removed”.  I would suggest the Government should focus on work experience and internships that are a close match to the qualification level of the individual concerned, if they are going to pursue a strategy of compulsion.

Unpaid work experience for a week or two at Key Stage 4 (KS4) and Key stage 5 (KS5) seems reasonable, but post-18 work experience placements/ internships should at least secure the minimum wage.  The Internship Charter is the absolute minimum voluntary standard to which the Prime Minister should be turning for inspiration, but he would sensibly back the Deputy Prime Minister’s call for “access to internships [to be] open and transparent, with financial support such as providing expenses or accommodation, or by treating the internship as a job that can be paid under National Minimum Wage law.” [I continued these relections on Sunday…]

Time for Liberal Democrats to invoke clause 6.6 in defense of Europe and the spirit of the Coalition Agreement?

Coalition, Europe, Politics

For the first time since the General Election, and stepping back from the front line of community politics in West London where I was an active Liberal Democrat for a decade (a parliamentary candidate in 2005 and 2010), I feel compelled to speak out.

The Liberal Democrats have often allowed ourselves to be presented as mindlessly pro-European – we are not. We are pro-reform and the creation of a far more efficient, less bureaucratic EU. However neither are the Liberal Democrats isolationist – we are internationalists. Thus, the news of Cameron’s inept negotiations at the end of last week have left many of us dismayed and in the first instance speechless.

We are left particularly baffled by the flagrant betrayal of the Coalition Agreement which stated:

“The Government believes that Britain should play a leading role in an enlarged European Union, but that no further powers should be transferred to Brussels without a referendum. This approach strikes the right balance between constructive engagement with the EU to deal with the issues that affect us all, and protecting our national sovereignty.

“We will ensure that the British Government is a positive participant in the European Union, playing a strong and positive role with our partners, with the goal of ensuring that all the nations of Europe are equipped to face the challenges of the 21st century: global competitiveness, global warming and global poverty.”

There was nothing “positive” about Cameron’s engagement with European trading partners last week who are grappling with a financial crisis that is already damaging the UK economy, as well as potentially regional peace and security. As Clegg has said this morning there is a real danger the UK could end up looking “Isolated and marginalised”. Beyond this Cameron’s understanding of the views of the Liberal Democrat membership/supporter base, which he should carry with him as PM, appears to be severely deficient.

Such is the severity of this foreign policy set-back from an internationalist perspective that I wonder whether it is now time for 200 Lib Dem party members (conference representatives) to call a Special Conference of the party as clause 6.6 of our constitution allows:

“The Conference shall normally meet twice a year. Additional meetings may be summoned upon the requisition of the Federal Executive or the Federal Policy Committee or the Conference itself or 200 representatives entitled to attend the Conference.”

The Special Conference should consider two options:

1) Is Prime Minister’s action of sufficient concern that the Liberal Democrats should pull out of the Coalition; and, if not,

2) What actions Nick Clegg should be calling on the Prime Minister to take, to rebuild relations with our European trading partners – and ensure that Coalition relationships are not undermined so severely again.

As Lord Oakeshott has pointed out it was David Cameron’s job to go to Brussels and represent Britain as Prime Minister of a Coalition-led Britain, not Leader of the Conservatives.

Red tape strangling sustainable ideas – Guardian Sustainable Business blog

Cooperatition, Corporate responsibility, CSR, Sustainability

As The Cooperation Incubator‘s work in partnership with Business in the Community continues to gather momentum you can read my article in today’s Guardian Sustainable Business blog on the challenges competition law presents public benefit collaboration by businesses:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/blog/red-tap-strangl…

I would also highly recommend this article, along a similar theme, by Jason Clay (WWF US):

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/precompetitive-behav…

…and watch a video of Jason’s presentation last July at TED: