Business & Human Rights : Confed. of British Industry (CBI)

Title: Row over plan to end retirement age

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Visit: Row over plan to end retirement age

Author: Press Association
Dated: 29 Jul 2010

The Government was facing mounting anger from business groups over plans to phase out the so-called default retirement age (DRA) of 65 by October next year. But after studying the details of the announcement, the country's leading business groups criticised the move, warning that the timescale will give companies little time to prepare...The Engineering Employers Federation (EEF)...told ministers that the change could lead to an increase in employment tribunal claims from older employees who believe they have been unfairly forced to leave their job.

Title: [PDF] Any of our business? Human rights and the UK private sector

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Author: UK Parliament Joint Committee on Human Rights
Dated: 16 Dec 2009

Businesses must have regard to human rights in several different contexts. In the UK, businesses which perform a public function have duties under the Human Rights Act…This report considers this complex range of issues, starting from the position that the UK should play a leadership role to ensure that all firms respect human rights wherever they operate. The main focus of the international debate is on the work of the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative on human rights and transnational corporations and other business entities, Professor Ruggie…We argue that an international agreement on business and human rights should be the ultimate objective, although we accept that no such agreement is likely in the near future. [refers to Afrimex, Amalgamated Metal Corporation (AMC), Associated British Foods, BP, BT, Consulting Association, GlaxoSmithKline, Google, News Group Newspapers, News of the World, Rio Tinto, Shell, Tesco, Thaisarco (part of AMC), Trafigura, Vedanta Resources]

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Visit: [PDF] Any of our business? Human rights and the UK private sector: Government Response to the Committee's First Report of Session 2009–10

Author: UK Government
Dated:

Good progress is currently being made on the subject of the UK private sector and human rights… To date the UK has led this debate, and was instrumental both in the establishment of the UN Special Representative’s mandate and in the establishment of a number of international initiatives designed to promote higher standards of business accountability and responsibility with regard to human rights… The Government does not support a human rights convention regulating business directly… the Government does not believe that the creation of a new UK Commission for Business, Human Rights and the Environment is necessary at this time… The Government does not accept the Committee’s conclusion that there is no coherent strategy on business and human rights.

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Visit: [DOC] New parliamentary report calls for urgent government action on abuses by UK companies overseas – leading UK coalition responds

Author: CORE Coalition
Dated:

Responding to the publication today of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights’ long-awaited report on Business and Human Rights, The Corporate Responsibility (CORE) Coalition...called on the British Government to acknowledge the findings, and put in place a new Commission on Business, Human Rights and the Environment to oversee the conduct of British companies operating overseas...The Committee’s final report...encouraged the UK Government to explore the proposal for a Commission for Business, Human Rights and the Environment...There was also an acknowledgment that current UK procedures for receiving complaints against companies – called National Contact Points – are “falling far short” of providing an effective remedy. [refers to Tesco, Asda, Primark, Vedanta, Shell]

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Visit: UK companies attacked over ‘woeful’ rights record

Author: Jim Pickard, Financial Times
Dated:

Some British multinational companies have a “woeful” human rights record overseas despite presenting a “compliant face” within the UK, according to a parliamentary committee that on Wednesday calls on the government to impose tougher standards on industry. The joint select committee on human rights is publishing a report calling on ministers to push for a new international agreement on business and human rights and the creation of a commission to monitor it. “When businesses incorporated in one country operate across the globe, the only way properly to address this is a binding international agreement,” said Andrew Dismore, chair of the committee...The committee heard complaints about companies using forced labour, polluting neighbourhoods, collaborating with repressive regimes and helping in projects that forced people out of their homes or damaged their health.

Title: [DOC] Private Sector and Human Rights Project Feedback Event- Notes on Meeting 12 Nov 2009 [UK]

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Author: UK Ministry of Justice
Dated: 12 Nov 2009

TwentyFifty...commissioned by the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Health to conduct the Private Sector and Human Rights Project scoping study, outlined the study’s methodology and presented its findings in detail…[A] panel consist[ing] of Jiwan Raheja (Ministry of Justice), Alan Christie (Equality and Human Rights Commission), Bryan Cress (CBI), Chris McCann (Asda) and Philippa Birtwell (Barclays)…outline[d] their response to the scoping study’s findings…CBI [said]…“It is important to clarify what the significant human rights within the UK are and what responsibilities businesses have for addressing these”…Asda…identified four strategic imperatives for their business and all businesses over the next few years: food security, energy security, population growth, & climate change… Barclays ha[d] a strong focus on…the human rights of employees…human rights risk management…using human rights to enhance stakeholder relationships…The biggest challenge is to make the business case, particularly to SMEs [Small and Medium Enterprises]

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Visit: [PDF] The Private Sector and Human Rights in the UK

Author: TwentyFifty, commissioned by UK Govt. Ministry of Justice, Department of Health
Dated:

..The Private Sector and Human Rights scoping study was commissioned by the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Health, to provide an insight into how businesses understand human rights and to establish a dialogue with the UK private sector on the subject…This report is about how a number of companies understand and tackle human rights issues in the UK...The outreach behind this report involved 167 companies, employing around 2 million people in the UK and 4.5 million globally. It involved an online questionnaire and in‐depth interviews...[companies interviewed: Asda, Asidua, Atos Origin, BAE Systems, Barclays, BT, Bupa, Concordia YSV, Dana Petroleum, EON, Innocent, Kalyx, KPMG, Manpower, McAvoy Group, National Express, National Grid, Pentland Brands, RBS, Serco, Sodexho, Thames Water, Vodaphone]

List item: 2

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Visit: [DOC] Ministry of Justice: The Private Sector and Human Rights Project - Summary of Meeting 17 Dec 2009 [UK]

Author: UK Ministry of Justice
Dated:

This meeting follows the feedback event held on 12 November 2009…The purpose of this meeting is to consider how to move this work forward…One strong message to come out of the scoping study and feedback event is that the UK private sector would like clarification on how the Human Rights Act works, but would not welcome any further legislation…[I]t will be important to articulate the business case for respecting human rights, so that businesses view it as an opportunity rather than a burden…The EHRC is holding an event on 21 January 2010 to engage in further dialogue with businesses…It was agreed that the group will meet again in March 2010, to consider how to take the work forward.

Title: Business groups lobby on equality bill [UK]

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Visit: Business groups lobby on equality bill [UK]

Author: Jean Eaglesham, Financial Times
Dated: 02 Nov 2009

Four leading business groups will today join forces to lobby peers over employers' concerns about the equality bill, which is due to start going through the [House of] Lords soon...The British Chambers of Commerce, CBI, EEF manufacturers' body and Federation of Small Businesses will brief peers from all the main parties at a meeting chaired by Baroness Greengross,...commissioner at the Equality and Human Rights Commission watchdog...they warned of the "pernicious effects" of some of the proposals, saying the extra regulatory cost for employers could hinder the economic recovery...The issues...include...criteria to block businesses with more than a certain number of tribunal findings against them from being awarded public sector contracts...a reserve power...allowing employers...to be required to report on the gender pay gap in their company...allow[ing] an employer to recruit a woman rather than a man when two candidates are equally qualified for the role...

Title: Commission consultation opens on gender pay gap reporting [UK]

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Author: UK Equality & Human Rights Commission
Dated: 12 Aug 2009

The [Equality and Human Rights] Commission has...launched a consultation on how private and voluntary sector employers with at least 250 staff can measure and report on their gender pay gap. Women working full-time currently earn 17.1 per cent less per hour on average than men, with the gap failing to improve in the past three years. The difference in some sectors such as finance, are much wider and the majority of organisations are not aware of their own gender pay gap...The Commission is working closely with the business sector, including the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and with the Trades Union Congress (TUC), to develop a consistent way to measure the gender pay difference in organisations...

Title: [DOC] Notice of forthcoming public evidence session: business and human rights [London, 14 July 2009]

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Author: UK Parliament Joint Committee on Human Rights
Dated: 09 Jul 2009

The Committee has arranged to hear oral evidence from the following witnesses... - Rt Hon Michael Wills MP, Minister of State, Ministry of Justice, - Ian Lucas MP, Minister for Business and Regulatory Reform, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, - Rt Hon Lord Malloch-Brown KCMG, Minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Location: Committee Room 5 …The above meeting is open to members of the public...[includes links to evidence previously submitted by CBI, Rio Tinto, Associated British Foods (parent company of Primark), Tesco plc, BP]

Title: [Audio of UK Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights meeting with Confed. of British Industry, Associated British Foods, Tesco, Rio Tinto]

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Author: UK Parliament Joint Committee on Human Rights
Dated: 30 Jun 2009

Title: [DOC] Notice of Forthcoming Public Evidence Session: Business and human rights [London, 30 Jun 2009]

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Author: UK Parliament Joint Committee on Human Rights
Dated: 23 Jun 2009

The Committee has arranged to hear oral evidence from the following witnesses: - Gary Campkin, Head of International Group, Confederation of British Industry (TBC) - Sir Brian Fall, Senior Government & Corporate Relations Consultant, Rio Tinto - Paul Lister, Director of Legal Services and Company Secretary, Associated British Foods (parent company of Primark) - Lucy Neville-Rolfe CMG, Executive Director, Corporate and Legal Affairs, Tesco - Steve Westwell, Group Chief of Staff, BP

Title: ‘Too few women’ ready to become directors

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Author: Brian Groom, Financial Times
Dated: 26 May 2009

Forget the glass ceiling – the real gender problem for Britain’s boardrooms is a lack of women ready to take on the role of director, according to Kathleen O’Donovan, one of the country’s most senior non-executives. Research by [Bird & Co Executive Board and Mentoring] a company co-founded by Ms O’Donovan…has found that businesses want to appoint women to their boards but cannot find enough experienced female candidates. “Time and again, we were told there are too few women in the pipeline – too few rising up career paths, too few gaining experience in running things, too few in the top executive roles,” says the report…This comes after Helen Alexander, president-nominee of the CBI employers’ group, told the Financial Times last week that boards composed entirely of white males indulged in narrow “groupthink” and were missing out on talent…Bird & Co Executive Board and Mentoring… aims to coach, mentor and train 24 female executives in the coming months – and 100 over four years – to try to make them “board-ready”.

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Visit: Diversity fails to end boardroom groupthink

Author: Michael Skapinker, Financial Times
Dated:

Helen Alexander received two rounds of spontaneous applause without even speaking at the CBI dinner last week, such is the excitement about the British employers’ group having its first female president. Ms Alexander, whose election is expected next week, has called for greater boardroom diversity, saying it could put an end to the “groupthink” that contributed to recent financial disasters... Is there any evidence that diverse groups make better decisions? Yes, according to an excellent article by Lisa Fairfax, a law professor at the University of Maryland...Prof Fairfax cites studies that show heterogeneous groups make higher-quality decisions because of their disparate backgrounds... However, putting that diverse thinking into practice in the boardroom is another matter...The real problem is deeper: there is enormous pressure to agree with those sitting around the table with you...None of this is to argue against broadening the range of company directors. There are many reasons to do so...But we should avoid placing too much hope in what board members from different backgrounds can achieve.

Title: Diversity fails to end boardroom groupthink

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Author: Michael Skapinker, Financial Times
Dated: 25 May 2009

Helen Alexander received two rounds of spontaneous applause without even speaking at the CBI dinner last week, such is the excitement about the British employers’ group having its first female president. Ms Alexander, whose election is expected next week, has called for greater boardroom diversity, saying it could put an end to the “groupthink” that contributed to recent financial disasters... Is there any evidence that diverse groups make better decisions? Yes, according to an excellent article by Lisa Fairfax, a law professor at the University of Maryland...Prof Fairfax cites studies that show heterogeneous groups make higher-quality decisions because of their disparate backgrounds... However, putting that diverse thinking into practice in the boardroom is another matter...The real problem is deeper: there is enormous pressure to agree with those sitting around the table with you...None of this is to argue against broadening the range of company directors. There are many reasons to do so...But we should avoid placing too much hope in what board members from different backgrounds can achieve.

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Visit: ‘Too few women’ ready to become directors

Author: Brian Groom, Financial Times
Dated:

Forget the glass ceiling – the real gender problem for Britain’s boardrooms is a lack of women ready to take on the role of director, according to Kathleen O’Donovan, one of the country’s most senior non-executives. Research by [Bird & Co Executive Board and Mentoring] a company co-founded by Ms O’Donovan…has found that businesses want to appoint women to their boards but cannot find enough experienced female candidates. “Time and again, we were told there are too few women in the pipeline – too few rising up career paths, too few gaining experience in running things, too few in the top executive roles,” says the report…This comes after Helen Alexander, president-nominee of the CBI employers’ group, told the Financial Times last week that boards composed entirely of white males indulged in narrow “groupthink” and were missing out on talent…Bird & Co Executive Board and Mentoring… aims to coach, mentor and train 24 female executives in the coming months – and 100 over four years – to try to make them “board-ready”.

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Title: Row over plan to end retirement age

Title: [PDF] Any of our business? Human rights and the UK private sector

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Title: [DOC] Private Sector and Human Rights Project Feedback Event- Notes on Meeting 12 Nov 2009 [UK]

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Title: Business groups lobby on equality bill [UK]

Title: Commission consultation opens on gender pay gap reporting [UK]

Title: [DOC] Notice of forthcoming public evidence session: business and human rights [London, 14 July 2009]

Title: [Audio of UK Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights meeting with Confed. of British Industry, Associated British Foods, Tesco, Rio Tinto]

Title: [DOC] Notice of Forthcoming Public Evidence Session: Business and human rights [London, 30 Jun 2009]

Title: ‘Too few women’ ready to become directors

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Title: Diversity fails to end boardroom groupthink

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