Meetings organised by the APCRG

Despite inflation falling in recent months, many people across the UK are still struggling to make ends meet due to the rising cost of living. Latest figures from the ONS suggest approximately 3.6 million people have not been able to pay the cost of a direct debit, standing order, or bill in the last month, while nearly three in ten people aged 16+ say that their household could not afford to pay an unexpected, but necessary, expense of £850. There is still stigma around discussing financial difficulties and seeking support, with analysis by the debt charity StepChange showing that it takes people who are experiencing financial hardship between 12 and 18 months to reach out for help.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Corporate Responsibility met to discuss what businesses can do to support people struggling with cost-of-living pressures. Speakers shared best practice on what companies can do to support those who may be experiencing financial difficulties, including guidance on how to deal with financial stigma.

Speakers included:

• Javier Echave, Chief Financial Officer, Heathrow Airport Holdings
• Nicola Bannister, Financial Support Director, TSB Bank
• Malcolm Dunn, Director of Operations and Vulnerability, OVO

Read the full minutes of the meeting here.

The government recently published voluntary guidance for employers to support them in publishing their ethnicity pay gaps. The guidance followed a recommendation by The Women and Equalities Committee for ethnicity pay gap reporting to be mandatory. And with the Labour Party pledging to enforce mandatory reporting if they come to power, there is a growing momentum behind making ethnicity pay gap reporting mandatory.

Regardless of the legal requirement, research shows that employers are taking it upon themselves to track and report their ethnicity pay gaps, with the number of employers voluntarily publishing this information doubling in recent years, increasing from 6% to 11% from 2018 to 2021. This meeting explored new insights on employers that are voluntarily publishing their ethnicity pay gap, taken from a recent survey of over 200 employers, by Business in the Community (BITC). The meeting also celebrated the fifth anniversary of BITC’s Race at Work Charter, established in October 2018, with the then Prime Minister, The Rt Hon Theresa May MP, standing alongside 50 founding businesses.

Speakers included:

• Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith
• Albertha Charles, Partner, PwC
• Marcus Bell OBE, Director of the Equality Hub
• Sandra Kerr, Race Director, Business in the Community

Read the full minutes of the meeting here.

This meeting of the APCRG discussed “flourishing in an ageing society: challenges and opportunities for workplaces”. Our guest speakers at this meeting were: Professor Andrew J Scott, Professor of Economics, London Business School; Jon Boys, Labour Market Economist, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development; and Steve Collinson, Head of UK HR, Zurich Insurance. 

Our first meeting back in Parliament since before COVID-19 looked at what broader action businesses can take to promote social mobility. Our guest speakers at this meeting were: Professor Anna Mountford-Zimdars, Professor of Social Mobility, University of Exeter; Jessica Organ, Programme Director, Social Mobility Business Partnership; Jess Garbett, Senior Manager, Workforce Strategy & Culture and Social Mobility Network Chair, PwC; and the Rt. Hon. The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Vincent Keaveny. 

In a period where supply chains across the world have been disrupted and businesses have been severely impacted due to the pandemic, it is more important than ever that companies ensure that they oversee their supply chains in a responsible manner. Despite the important work of the Small Business Commissioner and the Prompt Payment Code, the pandemic has exacerbated the problem of late payments. This meeting looked at the importance of maintaining responsible supply chains, particularly during covid-19, and the work of the Small Business Commission.

Our guest speakers at this meeting were: Liz Barclay, Small Business Commissioner and Dr Sarah Schiffling, Senior Lecturer in Supply Chain Management at Liverpool John Moores University; and Mauricio Coindreau, Head of Procurement & Sustainability, Budweiser Brewing Group UK & I.

The COP26 summit in Glasgow was seen by some as the last chance to keep the goal of limiting global temperature rises, as per the Paris Agreement, within reach. In a year where climate change related disasters were felt across the globe, COP26’s aims were to secure global net zero by mid-century and keep 1.5 degrees within reach by accelerating the phase-out of coal; curtailing deforestation; expediting the switch to electric vehicles; and encouraging investment in renewables. This meeting summarised what was agreed at COP26 as it pertains to business, before exploring how UK business can play its part in helping the UK reach its net zero goals. The meeting discussed issues such as what steps businesses can take, why they should take them, and how governments across the UK can support businesses in achieving those goals.

Our guest speakers at this meeting were: Harry Bowcott, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company; Tom Cumberlege, Associate Director at The Carbon Trust; and Tom Thackray, Programme Director for Decarbonisation at the CBI.

Our guest speakers at this meeting – Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP, the former Leader of the Conservative Party and Chair of the Centre for Social Justice; and Dr Roger Barker, the Director of Policy and Corporate Governance at the Institute of Directors – discussed how the UK Government and our most responsible companies can best protect and maintain our high international reputation for good corporate governance and international leadership on issues such as tackling modern slavery, as well as our open market for inward investment in the global business environment post-Brexit.

The meeting focused on the Government’s action on skills and apprenticeship to date and whether additional policies are needed to address our present and future skills challenges. Our speakers were Gillian Keegan MP, the UK Government’s Minister for Skills and Apprenticeships; Toby Perkins, Labour Shadow Minister for Further Education and Skills.

Members discussed trustees’ responsibilities for aligning pension investments with climate risk and how corporate pension schemes could better support financial inclusion at their meeting on 15 June. The guest speakers were: the Pensions Minister, Guy Opperman; the former Pensions Minister, Baroness (Ros) Altmann; David Farrar, DWP Policy Lead for Responsible Investment and Climate Change; and Rob O’Carroll, DWP Policy Lead for Automatic Enrolment.

On 27 April APCRG members met to discuss how businesses are supporting the transition to a green economy and the hallmarks of a robust sustainability strategy. The guest speakers were: Chris Faint, Head of Division for Climate and Small Mutuals at the Bank of England; Nicola Stopps, Founder and CEO of Simply Sustainable; and Mauricio Coindreau, Head of Procurement & Sustainability, AB InBev (Budweiser Brewing Group UK & I). Chris Faint explained the action being taken by the Bank of England to ensure that UK banks and insurers are climate resilient and to protect our financial system as we transition to a low carbon economy. Nicola Stopps gave members advice on developing robust sustainability strategies; and Mauricio Coindreau spoke about the steps being taken by AB InBev to ensure it is a sustainable business, increasingly prepared for climate change.

On 23 February 2021 the Parliamentary members of the APCRG held a virtual AGM, which was followed immediately by a meeting to discuss the business response to the Covid-19 pandemic with Associate members. The guest speakers were Paul Buchanan, Director of Delivery & Impact at Business in the Community; Amber Wilkinson, Strategy, Brand & Communications Director at AXA UK & Ireland; and Rob McCann, Senior Sustainability Manager at Virgin Media.

The Group’s last meeting of 2020 was a fascinating discussion with Sir Ronald Cohen and Maurice Ostro looking forwards to how companies and capitalism may evolve in order to retain public trust and help us tackle the huge environmental and societal challenges we face. Sir Ronald made a vigorous argument for the introduction of mandatory impact accounting, echoing the radical changes to corporate accounts introduced in the 1930s following the Wall Street crash.

In a highly topical meeting on 20 October members discussed the future of work, skills and training with Dr Carl Benedict Frey, Director of the Future Work Programme at Oxford Martin School, Oxford University, and Tony Wilson, Director of the Institute of Employment Studies.

In September the APCRG held a fascinating meeting in which they discussed the risks and opportunities associated with the on-going deployment of artificial intelligence and the need for appropriate regulation of it. The guest speakers were: Benedict Dellot of the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation; Neil Lawrence, Deep Mind Professor of Machine Learning at Cambridge University; and Dr Christine Chow, Global Head of Technology at Equity Ownership Services, Hermes.

In July the Group met to discuss health in the workplace against the background of the Covid crisis. The guest speakers were: Simon Blake of Mental Health First Aid England, Elliot Mason of the CBI and Shelly Asquith of the TUC.

The APCRG held its first virtual meeting to discuss diversity and inclusion in the workplace on 16 June 2020. The guest speakers were: Gavin Lewis, founder of #Talkaboutblack; Steve Collinson, Head of the UK People Team at Zurich Insurance; and David Styles, Director of Corporate Governance at the Financial Reporting Council. The meeting could not have been more topical because it followed days of demonstrations around the world in support of Black Lives Matter, following the death of George Floyd in the USA. The meeting was held virtually because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but APCRG meetings in Parliament will resume as soon as possible.

At our autumn meeting, Members discussed the Government’s Inclusive Economy Partnership initiative, which brings together businesses, civil society organisations and Government departments in an attempt to solve some of our society’s toughest challenges with new ways of thinking, collaborating and innovating with a shared determination to make the UK a better place to live and thrive. The IEP is currently focused on 3 flagship challenges: – financial inclusion and capability; mental health at work; and the transition to work for young people. Against each of these challenges, the IEP has launched a number of collaborative projects and is supporting 18 social innovators to scale-up what they do. The guest speakers were the new Civil Society Minister, Baroness Barran, and IEP Co-Chairs, Sacha Romanovitch, formerly CEO of Grant Thornton and current CEO of Fair4All Finance, and Mark Norbury, CEO of UnLtd.

APCRG members welcomed Constituency Responsible Business Champions from across the UK and their nominating MPs to our 2019 Responsible Business Champions reception members on 16 July. In addition to our Co-Chairs, Jonathan Djanogly MP and Baroness Greengross, Andy Brown of Anglian Water and Kelly Tolhurst MP, the Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Corporate Responsibility, spoke to members; and Ms Tolhurst presented the APCRG National Responsible Business award to Sandy MacDonald of Standard Life Aberdeen plc (see photo).

At our summer meeting members discussed business, human rights and modern slavery with Simon Thompson, Chair of Rio Tinto, Andrea Archer, Head of CSR for N. Brown Group and Emili Budell-Rhodes, Community Manager for RELX Group. It was particularly interesting for members to hear first hand accounts of the experience of businesses working on these issues in 3 very different sectors.

At our spring meeting, members had a very interesting and wide-ranging discussion with the guests speakers Mark Goyder of Tomorrow’s Company and Professor Andre Spicer, founding director of ETHOS: The Centre for Responsible Enterprise at Cass Business School about directors’ duties and the 2006 Companies Act.

At the first meeting of the year, the APCRG Co-Chairs launched the 2019 Responsible Business Champions award scheme, announcing the criteria against which companies nominated by MPs as their Constituency Responsible Business Champions will be considered for our 2019 National Responsible Business Champion award. Members also discussed 3 very interesting responsible business cases studies. Julie Dawson of Yoti spoke about the foundation of UK B Corps; Alec Brown of Tesco spoke about its Bags of Help programme; and Sandy MacDonald of Standard Life Aberdeen spoke about its support for the Edinburgh Guarantee Scheme.