The government responded to consultation on the new Operating and Financial Review, designed to improve the quality, usefulness and relevance of information provided by quoted companies. It said that it would simplify the audit requirements and give companies more time to manage the transition.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 25 November 2004, columns 11-14WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | DTI press release | CBI press release
Date: 2004-Nov
A report examined good 'corporate citizenship' in the areas of National Health Service procurement, employment, capital build, travel, and waste management.
Source: Karen Jochelson with Clare Delap and Sally Norwood, Good Corporate Citizenship and the NHS: A regional mapping, Health Development Agency (020 7430 0850)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf)
Date: 2004-Nov
Plans for a Corporate Manslaughter Bill were included in the government s legislative programme for the Parliamentary year 2004-05 (Queen's Speech). The Bill would create a new offence of corporate manslaughter, and make it easier for companies who had shown little or no regard for the safety of their workers or members of the public to be prosecuted for a specific and serious criminal offence.
Source: House of Lords Hansard, Queen's Speech 23 November 2004, columns 1-4, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 25 November 2004, columns 246-330, TSO
Links: Text of Speech | Lords Hansard | Commons Hansard | BBC report | TUC brief
Date: 2004-Nov
A think-tank report said that the rules on corporate governance were both unwieldy and ineffective. They had grown up too quickly and without thought as to their consequences.
Source: Nicky Morgan, Corporate Governance: Too much, too quickly, Bow Group (020 7431 6400)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2004-Oct
A report said that community leaders mistrusted community involvement strategies by companies. Community leaders perceived companies as looking for easy, short-term projects that would generate positive press coverage.
Source: Getting Engaged: Achieving closer working relationships between companies and local communities, Charities Aid Foundation (01732 520000)
Links: CAF press release
Date: 2004-Oct
A study attempted to establish whether big businesses benefited deprived communities or exploited them. It examined the US enterprise model, and specifically the impact of the McDonald s company on local communities. It concluded that McDonald s and others had a business model that conferred far more on local communities than most people would credit.
Source: Andy Westwood (with Liz Reynolds), Who Is Being Served?: McDonald s and the UK enterprise agenda, Work Foundation (0870 165 6700)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Oct
A report examined how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) defined corporate social responsibility; what kind of related activities they carried out; where they felt the pressure to engage in them came from; and the challenges they faced to become more socially responsible. Even where SMEs were enthusiastic about corporate social responsibility, they might feel constrained in terms of time and money and the inherent limitations of size.
Source: Heledd Jenkins, Corporate Social Responsibility: Engaging small and medium sized enterprises in the debate, Centre for Business Relationships, Accountability, Sustainability and Society/Cardiff University (029 2087 6562)
Links: Paper (pdf)
Date: 2004-Sep
A collection of essays reviewed the latest thinking on corporate social responsibility, and the potential opportunities for - and limitations of - companies conducting their business in a socially responsible manner.
Source: Tony Pilch (ed.), Perspectives: Corporate Social Responsibility, Smith Institute (020 7592 3618)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2004-Jul
A report said that too many of the regulations aimed at protecting the environment were badly designed and poorly implemented.
Source: The UK as a Place to do Business: UK Environmental Regulation, Confederation of British Industry (020 7395 8247)
Links: Summary | CBI press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Jul
The government began consultation on draft regulations for a new 'operating and financial review' - a statement designed to provide better information about quoted companies' activities. Campaigners said the plans would fail to improve performance unless they were significantly toughened.
Source: Draft Regulations on the Operating and Financial Review and Directors Report: A consultative document, Department of Trade and Industry (0870 150 2500) | House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 5 May 2004, columns 76-77WS, TSO (0870 600 5522) | Press release 5 May 2004, Friends of the Earth (020 7490 1555))
Links: Consultation document (pdf) | Hansard | DTI press release | FOE press release | TUC press release | CBI press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-May
A report said that capturing the value of social activities through a measurement technique called 'social return on investment' (SROI) had great potential to improve the way organisations worked and how resources were allocated, as well as illustrating the value of social and environmental impacts.
Source: David Aeron-Thomas, Jeremy Nicholls, Sarah Forster and Andrea Westall, Social Return on Investment: Valuing what matters, New Economics Foundation, available from Central Books (020 8986 5488)
Links: Report (pdf) | NEF press release
Date: 2004-Apr
A report summarised the most recent empirical research findings relating to the effect of corporate social responsibility on business performance. It said that high performance could only be achieved through adopting an integrated approach embracing the needs of all stakeholders.
Source: Stephen Bevan, Nick Isles, Peter Emery and Tony Hoskins, Achieving High Performance: CSR at the heart of business, Work Foundation (0870 165 6700)
Links: Report (pdf) | Work Foundation press release
Date: 2004-Mar
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on directors' remuneration. It confirmed its view that self-regulation was the answer to the problem of excessive salary packages.
Source: Government Reply to the Committee's Sixteenth Report of Session 2002-03, on Rewards for Failure, Third Special Report (Session 2003-04), HC 415, House of Commons Trade and Industry Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2004-Mar
A report explored trends and issues relating to corporate social responsibility in the investment industry. It said that research had shown that incorporating social responsibility could reduce portfolio volatility and increase returns.
Source: Roger Cowe, Risk, Returns and Responsibility, Association of British Insurers (020 7600 3333)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2004-Feb
Following a consultation exercise, the government ruled out new laws to put a stop to excessive boardroom pay and 'rewards for failure'. Campaigners described the government's response at 'totally inadequate'.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 25 February 2004, columns 50-52WS, TSO (0870 600 5522) | Press release 25 February 2004, Pensions and Investment Research Consultants Limited (020 7247 2323)
Links: Hansard | PIRC press release (pdf) | TUC press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Feb
A report made a series of detailed recommendations for improving transparency in the voting processes at shareholder annual general meetings, including proxy voting.
Source: Paul Myners, Review of the Impediments to Voting UK Shares: Report to Shareholder Voting Working Group, Epona Consulting Limited (020 7733 6627)
Links: Report (pdf) | TUC press release
Date: 2004-Feb
A report said that increasing numbers of pension funds were building social and environmental issues into their investment practice.
Source: Chris Gribben and Adam Faruk, Will UK Pension Funds Become More Responsible? Survey of trustees - 2004 edition, Just Pensions (020 7440 9712) and Ashridge Centre for Business and Society
Links: Report (pdf) | Just Pensions press release
Date: 2004-Jan
A new book (published by a think tank supporting free-market economics) defined the purposes of corporate governance and analysed different models of corporate regulation. It argued that many criticisms of corporate governance were based on false assumptions about what constituted ethical conduct by corporations, and confusions about corporate governance.
Source: Elaine Sternberg, Corporate Governance: Accountability in the marketplace (second edition), Institute of Economic Affairs (020 7799 8900)
Links: Book (pdf) | Summary
Date: 2004-Jan