I thank the committee for the invitation to address it. I refer to the issue of competitiveness and the fact that companies are required increasingly to show such practices are embedded in their organisations. We have worked over the past 18 months on the development of a toolkit and standard of best practice to recognise companies that have achieved a minimum level of integration of social, economic and environmental dimensions in the way they operate. We hope to launch the tool in the coming months. I am delighted we have worked in partnership with the National Standards Authority of Ireland in this regard and the authority will be a partner as a third party, independent audit and verification service. Such a tool should be regarded as critical for companies and the Government should adopt a stance on recognising and encouraging more companies to apply for it. Interesting examples include Enterprise Ireland and the supports it offers to companies that want to achieve ISO 140001 environmental certification. However, this tool would not only incorporate the environmental dimension but all the other dimensions that a socially, economically and environmentally responsible company is about. We look forward to the Government supporting and endorsing this tool.
The Government can make a huge impact through its own procurement practices, to which I will refer later.
It is also important for the Government to have a vision and strategy to encourage businesses to take up corporate responsibility or responsible business practices within their operations. By its nature, corporate responsibility is a voluntary approach by business to their social and environmental considerations and the European Commission's view is aligned with this. However, the Commission and many member states have invested heavily in raising awareness and building the capacity of businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, which are the cornerstone of our economy, to help them to raise their own standards by using positive incentives, clarification and information rather than imposing legislation. There is a gap in the Government's strategy. It is not communicating to business the benefits of this and how they could improve their own practices.
In the United Kingdom, for instance, in 2004 a junior minister in the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform was appointed as a minister for corporate social responsibility. Over a number of years the UK Government has issued reports on its vision in supporting and encouraging businesses. I have included in today's submission a copy of the recent document from the UK Government which I would encourage members to read because it is inspirational in terms of the way a government can encourage and advise companies.
At a regional level in Tuscany, to give the committee a different perspective, the local authority provides tax breaks for companies that have achieved an external certification on their social practices. Companies that work with suppliers in developing countries that have achieved a minimum standard on the quality of their workplaces are granted tax breaks. There are many other examples of that.
We believe there is a need for the Government here to examine how a vision should be espoused and an action plan developed, not in terms of adding more red tape, which I know is something the committee would be concerned about, particularly in terms of the businesses in members' own constituencies, but examining the way positive incentives and information can be made freely available for businesses to get involved in this area.
I will return to the point on procurement, which is about leading by example. Government is a major buyer of products and services, a huge investor, which it is hoped will remain the case, and a major employer. There is a major role for Government to play in terms of its own procurement practices — how Government can incorporate more social and environmental dimensions into its procurement practices.
An example I would point out to the committee is the local authority in Wales where there is a specific programme to encourage suppliers to show their social and environmental criteria. Mr. McGowan has already alluded to the London Olympics in 2012 where, increasingly, there is a requirement for leadership from Government to show that socially and environmentally responsible businesses are taken seriously in procurement.
My final example is the Netherlands. For any company to procure any type of uniform for the civil services, from the armed forces to paramedics and firemen, it must have an organic cotton label on the clothes it supplies. In all of those examples issues have not arisen concerning competition rules being broken because of favouritism in terms of the social and environmental criteria. There is strong evidence on that.
We would like to see the procurement unit in the Department of Finance take a stronger role in this area and encouraging and leading by example. On the other hand, Government is a major employer and there is a great deal of scope for examining how employment practices and productivity can be improved. At the same time we are working with a large number of businesses in the community on how they can be more flexible employers and encourage creativity and productivity among their staff. There should be similar practices here. I again point out to the committee that the UK has an action plan from within the sustainable development commission to examine the way these practices can be improved.
On the environmental dimension, it is also about examining the efficiency or inefficiency of Government operations in terms of CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions and the way that could be improved. That can be as simple as looking at the impact of the State's fleet of vehicles and how that can be improved, to the way green electricity can be procured for buildings like this one, which is a good example of best practice but it came out of an initiative in terms of stricter guidelines.
That is a summary of our presentation. We believe there is a need for stronger guidance and support for business, and a stronger vision in this area. We would encourage the members to consider this in their own constituencies and in their deliberations. I thank the committee for the time.
