Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that corporations licenced in the UK do not (a) abuse human rights and (b) cause environmental damage.

The Government is clear that it expects all businesses that carry on a business, or part of a business, in the UK to respect human rights throughout their operations, in line with the UN Guiding Principles. In response to the Guidelines, 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. Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act places a requirement on businesses with a turnover of £36 million or more, to publish an annual modern slavery statement setting out the steps they have taken to prevent modern slavery in their operations and supply chains. Additionally, financial penalties will be introduced to drive compliance with this reporting requirement. This requires primary legislation and will be introduced when parliamentary time allows.

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.

We have introduced world-leading due diligence legislation through the Environment Act to tackle illegal deforestation in UK supply chains. We consulted from 3 December 2021 to 11 March 2022 to seek views on the detail of regulations that will implement the Environment Act provisions. The Government will publish a summary of responses within 12 weeks of the consultation's close.