Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to help ensure good human rights practice within multinational companies.

The Government is clear that it expects all UK businesses to respect human rights throughout their operations, in line with the UN Guiding Principles. The UK was the first State to produce a National Action Plan and we continue to develop our approach in line with Modern Slavery Act 2015. In January 2021, the UK Government announced that financial penalties will be introduced for organisations who fail to meet their statutory obligations to publish annual modern slavery statements. We have also enhanced Companies Act reporting (2013, 2016).

The UK is signatory to the 1976 OECD Declaration on International Investment and Multi-National Enterprises, which adopted the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (the Guidelines). The Guidelines are a set of voluntary principles and standards for businesses to encourage responsible business practices, including human rights, labour standards and environment. The UK operates a National Contact Point (UK NCP) to promote the Guidelines and to run a non-judicial grievance mechanism to assess alleged non-compliance with the Guidelines. It also offers a platform for mediation and conciliation. The complaints mechanism can include the examination of instances where abuses of human rights may have occurred. The UK NCP also represents the UK at the OECD Working Party on Responsible Businesses Conduct.