Viscount Younger of Leckie
Main Page: Viscount Younger of Leckie (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Viscount Younger of Leckie)
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Sacks, for initiating this important debate. I had the pleasure of meeting him for the first time when I happened to sit beside him during the gracious Speech. I am grateful to Her Majesty the Queen for unwittingly engineering this. I echo the words of the noble Lord, Lord Mitchell, in thanking the noble Lord, Lord Sacks, and wishing him well for the future.
In considering one of the key raisons d’êtres for business, the fundamental question is whether the pursuit of profit can ever be good for society. In the 1980s, the answer would have been, for most, a resounding yes. For others, especially those who were wary of privatisation, the answer might have been a firm no.
Through the boom years, when house prices were rising, unemployment was low, when gadgets were readily purchased by all and frequent and exotic holidays seemed commonplace, many people might have agreed that the pursuit of profit was not a bad idea. During recent times, people have begun to question the pursuit of profit as a greater emphasis is placed on the benefit of business to society.
This Government are clear that business, and the pursuit of profit, can be a force for good in society by strengthening our economy and bringing together local communities. The noble Lord, Lord Sacks, acknowledged that earlier in his speech. At a fundamental level, businesses contribute significantly to society by creating jobs and improving the skills of the workforce. Many noble Lords made that point today. The noble Lord, Lord Sacks, in particular spoke about the importance of the value of work, the benefit of doing business and the satisfaction that many employees and employers gain from simply trading, which in itself is good for society.
I am pleased to report that figures from the Office for National Statistics published earlier today show that 1.3 million new private sector jobs have been created over the past three years. Some 24,000 more people are in work since the previous quarter, which is a fantastic figure. Figures relating to the period between February and April 2013 show that youth unemployment was down by 43,000. The noble Lord, Lord Glasman, concentrated on youth employment in his speech. It is an extremely important issue on which the Government are focusing in their aim of growing the economy. The noble Lord also made the point that, at the opposite end of the spectrum, older workers have a valuable role to play in the workplace. Further, since 2010, over 1 million apprenticeship starts have been created, and provisional data show that there were 245,000 apprenticeship starts during the first six months of the 2012-13 academic year. Of those, 69,600 were in the 16 to 18 year-old bracket. These figures are very encouraging, but there is a long way to go and we will keep working hard on this issue.
Businesses provide much more than just employment. They can improve the quality of life and well-being of employees, protect the environment and invest in a wide range of community activities. My noble friend Lord Griffiths emphasised that the purpose of business is more than just profits and stressed that employment has a moral purpose. In adding to that point, the noble Lord, Lord Parekh, defined it as a civil morality. Many businesses actively seek to improve opportunities for young people through apprenticeships and by supporting schools and charities.
The Government are showcasing schemes that encourage businesses across the country to support their local communities through corporate responsibility activity. There are many examples of this. In 1999, Greggs, the high street bakers, established its Breakfast Club programme within primary schools in disadvantaged areas. I am happy to say that this now provides a healthy start to the day for more than 10,000 children. In 2011, Greggs donated £250,000 to support existing clubs and open additional ones in areas of need. Lloyds Banking Group’s community investment similarly focuses on community sponsorship and funding local charities, supporting colleagues with their local community engagement and improving levels of financial inclusion and financial literacy in the United Kingdom. This includes building the financial capabilities of people with learning disabilities, thereby enabling access to financial services. Marks & Spencer’s Marks & Start work experience programme for disadvantaged groups has helped more than 800 people in the United Kingdom to get back into work. One might perhaps say, “It’s not just altruism, it’s Marks & Spencer altruism”.
It is not just big business that can make a difference. The Voice of Local Shops Survey polled more than 1,100 independent retailers across the country and found that 80% of store owners are involved in their community in some way, with 71% collecting for a local or national charity and 25% providing sponsorship for local schools and sports teams. The UK should be rightly proud of the many companies that go beyond their own self-interest and undertake activities that are of benefit to business, the environment and, indeed, society. The Government are taking steps to encourage this. At the end of the month, my honourable friend in the other place, Jo Swinson, will be launching a three-month consultation on corporate responsibility with business and other stakeholders. The Government are also committed to supporting and promoting an economy that is comprised of a diverse range of business and organisational models that includes the private sector, the public sector, co-ops, voluntary groups and charities with the aim of achieving a stronger society. This was a point that the noble Lord, Lord Mawson, emphasised in his speech.
Additionally, the coalition agreement in 2010 stated that the Government would take action to support the growth of the social enterprise sector. This sector is more important than ever to achieve an economy where a responsible approach is taken to growth, risk, the business environment and society with the aim of achieving long-term, sustained economic prosperity alongside the responsible use of resources. Its focus on responsible social business practices not only drives its profitability, it improves the well-being of local communities. These businesses are often concentrated in the UK’s most deprived communities, addressing social problems and building economic resilience.
For example, an organisation called Blue Sky is a social enterprise that focuses on reintegrating ex-offenders into society by offering employment and training opportunities. It exemplifies the economic and social good catalysed by social enterprises. To date, it has provided more than 700 jobs to ex-offenders. Some 51% of them leave with formal training qualifications, 48% move into permanent employment and, on average, only 15% have reoffended, which is a quarter of the national average. Blue Sky is also a growing profitable business whose commercial income has increased sixfold since 2007. It is helping to break the cycle of reoffending and is challenging society’s negative perception of offenders. Another example is Cockpit Arts, an award-winning social enterprise based in London, which is the UK’s only creative business incubator for designer-makers. It works with hundreds of businesses to help them conceive, develop and deliver innovative products to take to market. Moreover, in 2012, Cockpit Arts reinvested its profits into its Creative Careers for NEETS programme, providing jobs and work experience placements for local unemployed people with raw creative talent.
My right honourable friend in the other place, Dr Vince Cable, has already established quarterly bilateral meetings with Social Enterprise UK, the leading trade organisation for the sector. These productive and positive meetings help us to identify the acute challenges facing the social enterprise sector and look at what the Government can do to help. We are introducing new tax relief to encourage successful business people to invest in social enterprise, and it is good to have support in this area from my noble friend Lady Bottomley. Social enterprises are also challenging the glass ceiling, with 86% of their leadership teams boasting at least one female director and 27% with directors from the black and minority ethnic communities.
The relationship between arts and business is extremely important to enable a thriving and resilient arts and cultural sector which enriches society. Businesses provide a vital funding source that is essential to maintaining our high-quality arts culture. For example, for many years BP has supported the BP Portrait Award for the National Portrait Gallery, which encourages young artists to develop their portrait technique. Last year, more than 2,000 artists from 75 countries took part in the competition and almost 250,000 visitors attended the event. The Frieze London art fair, sponsored by Deutsche Bank, is one of the world’s most influential contemporary art fairs and brings an international audience to London every October. These sponsorships are vital for a greater number of people to experience and be inspired by the arts, irrespective of their background.
I turn now to a number of points that were raised by noble Lords in the debate. I should say to the noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, that I greatly enjoyed the television programme this week in which he featured so strongly. He made the point that instilling the words “industry” and “integrity” into the workforce is important because, in turn, they create a certain wholesomeness that leads to better well-being in society. That is a point which is very well made. The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chester brought up the subject of the living wage. It is an important issue, and I thank him for raising it. I will write to him with some details on the living wage in relation to this particular building, which I think was the point that he made.
The noble Baroness, Lady Warwick of Undercliffe, asked whether the Government would publish the UN guiding principles on business and human rights. As I mentioned earlier in my speech, on 27 June we are launching a consultation on a UK framework for action on corporate responsibility, and we will take full account of the UN guiding principles. The final document setting out government and business corporate responsibility commitments will be published in December this year. I believe that it was my noble friend Lady Bottomley who raised the issue of ethical supply chains, as did my noble friend Lord Kalms. The Bangladeshi factory crisis and the horsemeat scandal illustrate the importance of promoting ethical and responsible supply chains. The Government are encouraging businesses to value and develop responsible supply chains. My noble friend Lord Kalms also referred to transparency, and indeed he is correct to say that we need to be more transparent in the supply chain. That will lead to better information being made available to consumers, thus allowing them to make a choice as to whether a £2 T-shirt is actually worth all the blood, sweat and tears.
The initiatives discussed today provide just a few examples of the Government’s engagement with business, a relationship that this Government seek to improve and strengthen.