Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will take steps to bring forward legislative proposals to amend section 172 of the Companies Act 2006 to create a legal requirement for companies to align their social and environmental impact with their duty to shareholders.

The Government is not persuaded that amending section 172 of the Companies Act in this way would be workable. Section 172 already requires directors to have regard in their decision-making to the environment, employees, customers and suppliers, among other matters. Since 2019, directors of large companies have been required to make a statement as part of the annual report describing how they have had regard to these matters.