Business and Society

Lord Griffiths of Fforestfach Excerpts

Wednesday 12th June 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Griffiths of Fforestfach]

My Lords, I am delighted to take part in this debate for two reasons. The first is that the subject is hugely important. As we have just been reminded, business is the source of jobs, of wealth creation, of innovation and of tax revenue. The second reason is my regard for the noble Lord, Lord Sacks. As a religious leader in this country, he has been unrivalled in his support for business—but not just any kind of business. He has consistently championed business which serves society, business which has an ethical core and business which has a purpose larger than just profit.

Profit is essential to any business—without profit, a business will cease to exist—but the noble Lord, Lord Sacks, has repeatedly asked what I think are the fundamental questions. What is the purpose of business? What is a business really for? Why does it exist? His answer, with which I totally agree, is that business is not an end in itself. Business has to be seen within a larger framework which puts the human person—or, as he said today, the young unemployed—at the centre of economic life, emphasising creativity, work, integrity in the product, sustainability of the environment and so on. That is why, as he said, business plays a moral role in our society. I also greatly value the theological underpinning—the Hebrew Bible—of what he said, which is not just the basis of Jewish economic ethics but is also the fundamental basis of Christian ethics.

In asking the Government to assess the relationship between business and society, I believe that the paramount issue, as was mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Bilimoria, is trust. People instinctively know what is good and what is bad, and what is right and what is wrong in business. It is because of this that they are dismayed by the constant stream of bad news from business: mis-selling, price-fixing, money-laundering, tax avoidance and bribery.

I think that government can help by ensuring greater transparency and rebuilding trust, but the greater challenge, which is what I think the noble Lord, Lord Phillips, talked about, is the moral leadership which comes from business itself and which has to emphasise honesty, integrity and openness as the way forward. That is why I really applaud what the noble Lord, Lord Sacks, said.