Agenda item

Graham Rose, Strategic Senior Policy Officer

a.    presented an update of the progress of the Lincoln Social Responsibility Charter following the charter being in place for a period of 18 months.

b.    advised that the aim of the charter was to encourage organisations in Lincoln  to undertake socially responsible activities, above the statutory minimum, which benefited both their employees and the local community in which they were located.

c.    referred to paragraph 4 of the report and reminded members how the charter worked, highlighting the following:

·         The benefits to organisations

·         The specific criteria that organisations had to meet to be accredited

·         All accredited organisations received a certificate endorsed by the Mayor of Lincoln, together with an accreditation window sticker.

·         All signees received promotion via a range of routes from the Council which helped promote the organisation as a signee to the charter

·         To ensure all organisations continued to meet the criteria to retain the accreditation, on an annual basis they were required to complete a questionnaire.

d.    referred to Appendix A of the report and advised that 76 local organisations had gained accreditation to the charter which exceeded the target of 50 signees at this stage

e.    advised that the Lincoln Social Responsibility Forum was held twice each year, which was a great networking event for local organisations to attend and share best practise in relation to social responsibility. Due to COVID19 this year’s event had been cancelled but it was hoped that it would be continued on an annual basis from next year.

f.     advised that to support local charities and community groups during the COVID 19, organisations signed up to the charter were asked to contribute to the COVID 19 Crisis Fund of which a number of contributions were received demonstrating social responsibility

g.    advised that the City of Lincoln Council would continue to actively promote the charter and its signees, together with the benefits of undertaking socially responsible activities, with the aim to encourage more organisations to gain accreditation to the charter. The council would also continue to support Living Wage Week.

h.    advised that the City Council led by example by undertaking a range of socially responsible activities to support employees and the local community as detailed at Appendix B of the report.

i.      invited members questions and comments

Members referred to paragraph 4.7 of the report and asked how the City Council could be sure that organisations were undertaking the socially responsible activities that they had committed to?

Graham Rose, Strategic Senior Policy Officer responded that the process required businesses to be open and transparent and to provide as much detail as possible in their application. A sample check of the business could be done to ensure that they were doing what they said they would. The Council promoted the businesses as socially responsible so they would be reported if they were not fulfilling their role.

RESOLVED

1.                  that the progress with the Lincoln Social Responsibility Charter be noted

2.                  that Members be encouraged to promote the charter and the benefits of social responsibility to local organisations, with the aim to gain accreditation to the charter.