Private Bill to make social and environmental reporting compulsory

A Private Member's Bill has been introduced into Parliament by Linda Perham - backed by social and environmental groups (for example, Amnesty International) - which would make businesses much more accountable for their social and environmental activities.

The Bill probably has little chance of becoming law in its current form, but reportedly contains proposals to make environmental/social reporting compulsory in annual reports; to provide redress for individuals affected by business activities; and to introduce a new regulatory body to oversee all of this.

Reporting has been high on the agenda recently; the Workplacelaw Network has recently reported on calls from the Environment Agency to make such reporting compulsory for FTSE listed companies. For members interested in this topic, Nick Callister Radcliffe and Jennifer Watt of CMS Cameron McKenna have recently contribued an excellent article summing up the Government's second annual report on corporate social responsibility.
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