The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill was given a third reading. The Bill was designed to make companies and public sector organizations liable for any deaths due to a general breach of the duty of care.
Source: Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill, Home Office, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 4 December 2006, columns 39-126, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | HOC briefing | Hansard
Date: 2006-Dec
Research found that only 5 of the 20 largest pension schemes disclosed policies on social and environmental responsibility; and only 1 out of 20 disclosed how shareholder votes had been cast on scheme members behalf.
Source: UK Pension Scheme Transparency on Social, Environmental and Ethical Issues, FairPensions (020 7403 7800)
Links: Report | FairPensions press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Nov
The Companies Act 2006 was given Royal assent. The Act simplified regulation of companies. Directors' duties would be clarified, so that they had to act in the interests of shareholders, but needed to 'pay regard to' the longer term, the interests of employees, suppliers, consumers, and the environment.
Source: Companies Act 2006, Department of Trade and Industry, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: DTI press release | HOC brief
Date: 2006-Nov
The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill was given a second reading. The Bill was designed to make companies and public sector organizations liable for any deaths due to a general breach of the duty of care.
Source: Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill, Home Office, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 10 October 2006, columns 191-266, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard | HOC briefing | Personnel Today report
Date: 2006-Oct
A collection of essays examined what constituted best practice in corporate social responsibility - focusing on the environment and health, community involvement, and education.
Source: Amanda Jordan and Amy Lunt (eds.), Whose Responsibility? The role of business in delivering social and environmental change, Smith Institute (020 7592 3618)
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Oct
The Companies Bill (previously called the Company Law Reform Bill) was given a third reading. The Bill was designed to simplify regulation of companies. Directors' duties would be clarified, so that they had to act in the interests of shareholders, but needed to 'pay regard to' the longer term, the interests of employees, suppliers, consumers, and the environment. The government tabled an amendment to the Bill requiring companies to disclose relevant information regarding their supply chain.
Source: Companies Bill [HL], Department of Trade and Industry, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 19 October 2006, columns 1030-1108, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard | Guardian report | FT report
Date: 2006-Oct
A report examined the meaning of corporate responsibility from the point of view of consumers.
Source: Maya Forstater and Jeannette Oelschaegel with Maria Sillanp , What Assures Consumers?, National Consumer Council (020 7730 3469) and AccountAbility
Links: Report
Date: 2006-Aug
The government introduced a Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill. The Bill was designed to make companies and public sector organizations liable for any deaths due to a general breach of the duty of care.
Source: Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill, Home Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Home Office press release | TUC press release | CBI press release | IOD press release | Personnel Today report | BBC report
Date: 2006-Jul
A report said that building societies had increased their corporate social responsibility activity in the previous three years, compared to a similar survey conducted in 2002. The majority of societies - 66 per cent - took action to support employees charitable commitments.
Source: The SMART Company, Societies in Society, Building Societies Association (020 7734 6416)
Links: Report | BSA press release
Date: 2006-Jun
An article said that the manner in which companies discharged their responsibilities towards society affected their public reputation and their ability to recruit and retain able and committed employees.
Source: Adrian Cadbury, 'Corporate social responsibility', Twenty-first Century Society, Volume 1 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2006-Jun
The Company Law Reform Bill was given a second reading. The Bill was designed to simplify regulation of companies. Directors' duties would be clarified, so that they had to act in the interests of shareholders, but needed to "pay regard to" the longer term, the interests of employees, suppliers, consumers, and the environment.
Source: Company Law Reform Bill [HL], Department of Trade and Industry, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 6 June 2006, columns 122-223, TSO
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Hansard | DTI press release | HOC brief | ePolitix brief | FT report | Times report | Accountancy Age report
Date: 2006-Jun
The government announced (following consultation) that it would table amendments to the Company Law Reform Bill to remove the additional "burden" imposed by the statutory OFR (operating and financial review) requirement, covering social and environmental issues. It said that the requirement was not justified in light of the competitiveness of businesses.
Source: Press release 3 May 2006, Department of Trade and Industry (020 7215 5000)
Links: DTI press release | FOE press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-May
A report said that corporate tax planning should be subject to the same standards of transparency and accountability as corporate environmental and social performance.
Source: Seb Beloe et al., Taxing Issues: Responsible business and tax, SustainAbility (0207 269 6900)
Links: SustainAbility press release
Date: 2006-Apr
The government responded to pre-legislative scrutiny of a draft Bill on corporate manslaughter. It accepted a number of recommendations, including broadening the basis for liability within an organization away from senior managers.
Source: Draft Corporate Manslaughter Bill: The government reply to the first joint report from the Home Affairs and Work And Pensions Committees, Cm 6755, Home Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | Hansard | TUC press release | Guardian report
Date: 2006-Mar
A consumer group criticized private companies for over-promising and under-delivering, treating customers in a clinical and patronizing way, and focusing on making a quick profit at the expense of longer-term relationships.
Source: Philip Cullum, The Stupid Company: How British businesses throw away money by alienating consumers, National Consumer Council (020 7730 3469)
Links: Report | NCC press release
Date: 2006-Feb
A new book proposed an ethical framework for conduct by professionals, comprising four basic elements - fairness, respect for autonomy, integrity, and seeking the most beneficial and least harmful consequences.
Source: Richard Rowson, Working Ethics: How to be fair in a culturally complex world, Jessica Kingsley Publishers (020 7833 2307)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Feb
A survey found that responsible business behaviour was becoming more important for pension fund trustees, prompted by a belief that long-term shareholder value was affected by different areas of corporate behaviour (such as environmental and employment policies).
Source: Chris Gribben and Matthew Gitsham, Will UK Pension Funds Become More Responsible? A survey of trustees - 2006 edition, Just Pensions (020 7440 9712)
Links: Report | Just Pensions press release
Date: 2006-Feb
A report said that it made good business sense for employers to align their reward and diversity strategies. Equal pay audits could help organizations achieve their targets, if they used the data to find the underlying causes for unexplained pay gaps.
Source: Reward and Diversity: Making fair pay add up to business advantage, Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (020 8971 9000)
Links: CIPD press release
Date: 2006-Feb
The government published guidelines on environmental reporting. Campaigners said that they would not provide an adequate indication of a company's true impact on the environment.
Source: Environmental Key Performance Indicators: Reporting Guidelines for UK Businesses, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (08459 556000)Press release 24 January 2006, Friends of the Earth (020 7490 1555)
Links: Guidelines | FOE press release
Date: 2006-Jan
A report said that Britain's largest companies were paying far less tax than might have been expected. Over the previous five years, the biggest 50 had paid just 24.5 per cent of their profits on average to the Exchequer and other tax authorities, compared to a notional corporate tax rate of 30 per cent.
Source: Mind the Tax Gap, The Tax Gap Limited (01353 645041)
Links: Report | Observer report
Date: 2006-Jan
A report evaluated the impact of 'FTSE4Good' - a series of indices launched in July 2001 with the aim of identifying companies that met globally recognized corporate responsibility standards. A majority of companies reported significant effects on some of their internal processes, such as reporting and management procedures.
Source: George Cobb, David Collison, David Power and Lorna Stevenson, FTSE4Good: Perceptions and performance, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (0141 582 2000)
Links: Summary
Date: 2006-Jan