Supplementary memorandum submitted by
the Ministry of Justice
The purpose of this supplementary memorandum
of evidence is to provide the Joint Committee on Human Rights
with additional information for its inquiry into business and
human rights. This is in light of the preliminary findings of
the Private Sector and Human Rights Project, which is currently
being taken forward by my Department in partnership with the Department
of Health.
The initial phase of this project consists of
a scoping study via questionnaire and in-depth interviews to establish
an understanding of how UK businesses are currently engaging with
human rights and whether they see a need for any further guidance
on how to integrate human rights into their business practices.
As part of this scoping study, questionnaires
have been distributed to a range of companies across the UK private
sector, and in-depth interviews have been conducted with selected
companies. The emerging findings from the scoping research have
enabled the Government to provide the Committee with additional
information for some of the questions outlined in your call for
evidence.
1. How do the activities of UK businesses
affect human rights both positively and negatively?
The scoping research conducted as part of the
Private Sector and Human Rights Project has found to date that
human rights issues are clearly understood by the majority of
respondents as applying to the individual, with everyone having
human rights. When asked in the survey what the term "human
rights"' means to their organisation, themes that emerged
were those of respect for the individual, fairness, equality,
integrity and non-discrimination in the workplace.
Although companies do not often use the term
"human rights"' beyond the enclave of corporate responsibility,
human rights issues are incorporated within other policies and
referred to under broad, overarching terms such as equality and
diversity, work-life balance and flexible work patterns to cover
aspects of human rights. Therefore, although the term "human
rights" is seen by companies as mainly applicable to overseas
operations, companies recognise that their activities within the
UK do affect human rights issues and these are addressed within
a range of policies. The scoping research also found that companies
place particular emphasis on human rights in employment issues.
2. How do these activities engage the human
rights obligations of the UK?
As discussed above, the scoping study has found
that businesses typically see the term "human rights"
as mainly applicable to their wider operations only when they
operate overseas, particularly in the least developed countries.
Therefore, most companies do not conduct the same type of human
rights risk assessments to their UK operations as they do for
their overseas operations, but have integrated human rights issues
into other relevant domestic policies.
A notable exception to this is in relation to
the farming, food processing and shell-fish sectors. The Morecambe
Bay disaster and the on-going work of the Gangmasters Licensing
Authority has established an awareness of the risks faced by migrant
labourers in the UK amongst the industries concerned and the retailers
they supply. In terms of addressing specific human rights issues,
the survey carried out as part of the scoping research asked companied
whether they had developed policies to address a range of human
rights issues. The responses reveal that companies are most likely
to have comprehensive management systems in place for the issues
of occupatioinal health and safety, harassment and most forms
of discrimination.
4. Does the UK Government give adequate guidance
to UK businesses to allow them to understand and support the human
rights obligations of the UK?
The scoping research conducted as part of the
Private Sector and Human Rights Project has indicated that human
rights are clearly understood by the majority of companies, although
it is perceived that they are largely limited to employment issues.
Both questionnaire and interview responses referred to a broad
range of rights and principles including treating everyone with
dignity and respect and without discrimination, equality, a safe
working environment, fair pay, recognising trade unions and complying
with employment legislation. Rights are viewed by many as a means
of empowering individuals and realising their potential, for example
through access to training and development, listening to marginalised
voices and tailoring services to meet individual needs.
The scoping research has also shown to date
that UK businesses do have a significant desire for practival
guidance on how to integrate human rights within their policies.
Approximately half of respondents to the survey to date have indicated
that they are working regularly with other organisations on human
rights issues. Of these, Business in the Community is the organisation
most commonly worked with, followed by the Employers Forum on
Disability, International Business Leaders Forum and the United
Nations Global Compact.
There appears from the scoping research to be
few obstacles to companies taking further steps to address human
rights issues. Significantly, companies did not believe that cost
or a lack of senior management commitment or stakeholder support
present barriers to taking further action on human rights issues.
6. How should UK businesses take into account
the human rights impact of their activities (and are there any
examples of good or bad practice which the Committee should consider)?
How can a culture of respect for human rights in business be encouraged?
The scoping study has found that most companies
seek to meet the expectations of their stakeholders regarding
human rights, rather than seeking to lead on these issues. The
survey so far has revealed that in terms of the influence of stakeholders,
the strongest is the personal commitment of business leaders.
As mentioned in the response to Question 1,
the scoping research so far has found that human rights are more
often integrated into other policies, not handled through a stand
alone policy. However, a minority of questionnaire respondents
to date (17%) did not have a human rights policy or position statement
and had not integrated human rights into other policies.
In terms of addressing specific human rights
issues, questionnaire respondents are most likely to have comprehensive
management systems in place for occupational health and safety
(OHS), harassment and most forms of discrimination. However, around
10% of respondents to date have taken no specific action on any
human rights issues, including occupational health and safety.
Privacy, sexual orientation, cultural and religious expression
and bribery and corruption are issues where a proportion of companies
have yet to make any progress.
The most popular measures for integrating human
rights into existing policies and practices are codes of conduct
and reactive grievance and discipline processes. A significant
proportion of respondents also use employee training, a dedicated
corporate responsibility or ethics committee, and procurement
policies and practices. Some companies also use an ombudsman,
customers evaluation, a public performance report, individual
performance incentives, business unit performance reviews, and
third party assessment.
Some examples of good practice emerged from
the scoping research. Some participants mentioned taking human
rights issues into account as a matter of due diligence in the
development of new services and the bidding process, which in
one case revealed an untapped market opportunity. One respondent
also included human rights as part of an ongoing risk training
exercise.
A number of interview participants emphasised
the importance of working with supply chain partners who shared
their human rights values, with one reporting that they had severed
relations with a UK supplier who would not allow them to visit
their factory in China. Other participants explained that they
would turn away business or terminate a tender process if it became
clear that their values and standards might be compromised. Approximately
half of the survey respondents require their suppliers and contractors
to have a human rights policy.
The scoping research has revealed that the UK
private sector does display a strong alignment with human rights
values. When asked how influential human rights principles are
in guiding the conduct of companies, questionnaire respondents
stated that common human rights principles or values such as fairness,
respect, equality and accountability were important, with integrity
and trustworthiness rated most highly. While allowing for social
bias in these responses (it is to be expected that respondents
would naturally select the more positive outcomes) this nonetheless
indicates a strong alignment between the desired values or culture
of the business responding and principles underlying human rights.
Furthermore, the interviews found numerous companies
where there is strong integration of ethics into business governance
and decision making. This included, in some cases, being prepared
to stand up to their clients on questions of ethics for example
around how staff restructuring and lay-offs were to be achieved.
Then questioned it was hard to discern a clear business case for
such commitment to ethics. It was often described as simply "the
way we do business"'. It was seen as a differentiator in
the market, but not having a clearly established financial business
case. The ethical culture was usually attributed to one or more
key leaders in the business.
30 June 2009
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