A survey examined the responsible investment strategies and activities of 30 of the largest asset managers operating in the United Kingdom. There was a 'striking disparity' in the survey: some fund managers demonstrated a deep commitment to responsible investment through their engagement activities and public disclosures, whereas some others gave no indication of any coherent approach towards integrating social and environmental risks and opportunities into investment strategies, and appeared to fail to follow industry codes on best practice.
Source: Investor Responsibility? UK fund managers' performance and accountability on 'extra-financial' risks, FairPensions (020 7403 7800)
Links: Report | TUC press release | PIRC press release
Date: 2008-Nov
A report by a committee of MPs said that 181 out of the 700 largest businesses paid no corporation tax in 2005-06 – because they had made a loss, or had losses in previous years, or were using tax reliefs, or were engaging in tax avoidance.
Source: Management of Large Business Corporation Tax, Thirtieth Report (Session 2007-08), HC 302, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Committee press release | TUC press release | BBC report
Date: 2008-Oct
A report said that there was a statistically significant link between effective management and governance of environmental and social issues and financial performance. Large (FTSE) companies that actively managed and measured corporate responsibility issues outperformed others on total shareholder return by between 3.3 per cent and 7.7 per cent throughout the period 2002-2007.
Source: The Value of Corporate Governance: The positive return of responsible business, Business in the Community (0870 600 2482)
Links: Report | BiC press release
Date: 2008-Oct
A report examined changing patterns of company ownership. Not all shareholders want to exercise a stewardship role, and this should be accepted as a reality: but steps should be taken to reinforce the effectiveness of those investors who did choose to see themselves as stewards.
Source: Tomorrow's Owners: Stewardship of tomorrow's company, Tomorrow's Company (020 7222 7443)
Links: Tomorrow's Company press release | FT report
Date: 2008-Oct
A trade union report said that a 'hard core' of investment fund managers still refused to reveal how they voted at company annual general meetings. Unless this changed soon, the government should use its reserve power to force fund managers to disclose their voting records in a standard form.
Source: TUC Fund Manager Voting Survey 2008, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report | TUC press release
Date: 2008-Jun
An article examined the relationship between pension fund ownership of companies and corporate social performance. The characteristics of pension fund management were significant drivers of preferences for social performance, and employee-related aspects of social performance were preferred by pension funds.
Source: Paul Cox, Stephen Brammer and Andrew Millington, 'Pension funds and corporate social performance', Business and Society, Volume 47 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Jun
A briefing paper said that at least twice as many people died from fatal injuries at work than were victims of homicide. The recent trend towards the 'light touch' regulation of business had in effect 'decriminalized' death and injury at work.
Source: Steve Tombs and David Whyte, A Crisis of Enforcement: The decriminalisation of death and injury at work, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies/King's College London (020 7848 1688)
Links: Briefing | CCJS press release | HSE press release | Liberal Democrats press release
Date: 2008-Jun
An article examined disclosures in annual company reports of voluntary charitable donations. The concepts of 'philanthropy strategy' and 'strategic philanthropy' were employed to establish the extent to which these concepts were conveyed to readers of annual reports. Although there was a relatively high level of policy disclosure, the detail and consistency (over time) of these disclosures was very patchy; and only a minority of companies showed evidence of adopting a fully strategic approach to philanthropy.
Source: David Campbell and Richard Slack, 'Corporate "philanthropy strategy" and "strategic philanthropy": some insights from voluntary disclosures in annual reports', Business and Society, Volume 47 Number 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Jun
The government announced a new programme of work to help standardize and improve the ways in which the 'social return on investment' was measured.
Source: Press release 6 May 2008, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Cabinet Office press release
Date: 2008-May
A report said that the majority of large companies convicted of offences involving the death of a worker or member of the public had been fined tiny amounts compared with their annual turnover and profit.
Source: The Relationship between the Levels of Fines Imposed upon Companies Convicted of Health and Safety Offences Resulting from Deaths, and the Turnover and Gross Profits of these Companies, Centre for Corporate Accountability (020 7490 4494)
Links: Report | CCA press release | FT report
Date: 2008-Mar
The opposition Conservative Party published a working group report which examined ways of encouraging socially responsible corporate behaviour. It called for the introduction of 'responsibility deals', which would enable companies to work with other groups in society to address important issues.
Source: A Light But Effective Touch, Conservative Party (020 7222 9000)
Links: Report | Conservative Party press release | BITC press release | FT report
Date: 2008-Mar
A report said that companies with the best corporate governance records produced performance returns 18 per cent higher than those with poor governance.
Source: Mariano Selvaggi and James Upton, Governance and Performance in Corporate Britain: Evidence from the IVIS colour-coding system, Research Paper 7, Association of British Insurers (020 7600 3333)
Links: Report | ABI press release | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Feb