§ Mr. BlizzardTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps she is taking to monitor the effectiveness of voluntary corporate social responsibility strategies of United Kingdom companies which invest in developing countries. [72053]
§ Clare shortMy Department supports a number of initiatives aimed at monitoring the impact of the corporate social responsible strategies of UK companies on developing countries. For example, in the retail sector, we have supported the work of the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) since its establishment in 1998. The ETI is an alliance of 28 UK businesses (with a combined turnover of over £100 billion), NGOs and trade unions that work to improve labour conditions in the supply chains of the company members. The ETI is conducting research to assess the impact of its code of conduct on workers and suppliers, and the business case for adopting such codes.
DFID is also funding research on measuring the impact on poverty of companies' international investments and operations. This will include looking at both the direct impacts, such as welfare provision and training, and the indirect impacts, such as taxation payments to national Governments.