The British government’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office has produced a
CSR strategy that commits it to a greater say on corporate
responsibility in the UK and around the world.
The ministry plans to encourage responsible business practice by
helping to advance international social and environmental codes of
conduct and the implementation of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational
Enterprises, with a particular emphasis on British companies operating
overseas in the ‘high-impact’ sectors of mining, defence,
pharmaceuticals and construction and engineering.
In a speech last month, foreign secretary Margaret Beckett promised
that her department, whose role in looking after the UK’s overseas
interests includes oversight of trade and investment, would promote CSR
abroad.
Although the Foreign Ministry’s work on corporate responsibility will
be restricted to overseas markets, the publication of the strategy
suggests that the ministry may soon become more influential in the
field than the Department of Trade and Industry, where the CSR minister
sits. The trade ministry has been virtually silent on corporate
responsibility for a year, and lost credibility in the eyes of many in
2006 when the operating and financial reviews regime was dropped from
the Companies Act.
A senior CSR practitioner who has worked closely with the Foreign
Ministry told EP: ‘While the trade department has become disengaged,
the Foreign Office is pushing forward. Frankly, I think they’re now
more of a player than the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). This
is partly because the DTI tied its mast quite firmly to the European
Commission’s efforts, so when the Commission dropped CSR it found
itself with nowhere to go. By contrast, the Foreign Office has been
engaged with the UN Global Compact, and as that has taken off, so has
its engagement with CSR.’
Specifically, ministers are to highlight responsible business issues in
speeches and in bilateral dialogues with the G8, and to explore
co-operation with the International Business Leaders Forum and other
bodies.
At present the ministry’s Sustainable Development and Business Group,
which produced the strategy, has one full-time desk officer for policy,
but it estimates that the equivalent of a further two full-time staff
are working on issues such as sustainable tourism and blood diamonds.
By contrast, the DTI has one part-time civil servant working on
responsible business issues.
see also editorial
