Amanda Milling corrected a written answer on Multinational Companies: Sustainable Development

3 February 2022 · Commons written answer · Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Mr Barry Sheerman (Labour, Huddersfield) asked written question 111494 on 25 January 2022. Amanda Milling answered on 2 February 2022 for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and Amanda Milling corrected the answer on 3 February 2022. The corrected text no longer gives the figure 5,000. Altogether 209 words differ between the two versions.

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking with her international partners to encourage major multinational companies to become more sustainable.

Original and corrected answer

Struck through: original only. Bold: correction only.

Original	Corrected
~~The UK Government works~~ closely with international partners and major multinationals to encourage them to become more sustainable. As an example in December 2021 under UK's Presidency of the G7, Ministers met with CEOs and seniors from 19 major food and agriculture companies to launch the G7 Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative (SSI). This is a ~~new commitment~~ of ~~22 leading food~~ and agriculture companies headquartered in G7 countries to take action to improve the environmental and social impact of their supply chains and business operations. Ahead of COP26, we set up a business advisory council of global leaders from the private sector, encouraging members to work with their peers and supply chains to drive action. This group includes Ikea, Unilever and is co-chaired by Legal and General Investment Management's CEO. Further, we have encouraged companies to sign up to Race to Zero, requiring businesses to ~~set net zero targets by 2050~~ and ~~have credible action plans to get there. By Jan 2022, over 5000 companies had joined. (SDG13: Climate Action)~~	We work closely with international partners and major multinationals to encourage them to become more sustainable. The UK government is a signatory to the 1976 OECD Declaration on International Investment and MNEs which adopted the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and has consistently supported the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. We support codes of conduct, certificates and standards organisations which encourage businesses to be socially responsible, environmentally sound and help defeat modern slavery across their value chains.

Original

Corrected

~~The UK Government works~~ closely with international partners and major multinationals to encourage them to become more sustainable.
As an example in December 2021 under UK's Presidency of the G7, Ministers met with CEOs and seniors from 19 major food and agriculture companies to launch the G7 Sustainable Supply Chain Initiative (SSI). This is a ~~new commitment~~ of ~~22 leading food~~ and agriculture companies headquartered in G7 countries to take action to improve the environmental and social impact of their supply chains and business operations. Ahead of COP26, we set up a business advisory council of global leaders from the private sector, encouraging members to work with their peers and supply chains to drive action. This group includes Ikea, Unilever and is co-chaired by Legal and General Investment Management's CEO. Further, we have encouraged companies to sign up to Race to Zero, requiring businesses to ~~set net zero targets by 2050~~ and ~~have credible action plans to get there. By Jan 2022, over 5000 companies had joined. (SDG13: Climate Action)~~

We work closely with international partners and major multinationals to encourage them to become more sustainable. The UK government is a signatory to the 1976 OECD Declaration on International Investment and MNEs which adopted the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, and has consistently supported the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. We support codes of conduct, certificates and standards organisations which encourage businesses to be socially responsible, environmentally sound and help defeat modern slavery across their value chains.

The question and answer on the Parliament website.

Receipt

Read from	https://questions-statements-api.parliament.uk/api/writtenquestions/questions/1416422?expandMember=true
Date read	15 October 2026
SHA-256	`807900e4ce3e4cc9347211285a35067674d7951259a7b9de8e73ad1c40c9cf4a`