Responsible conduct put into action

Council agreed early in the year that 2004's number one topic was corporate social responsibility, writes Darren Ford, purchasing and supply management development manager.

CSR

We also want to continue and refine our joint ventures with organisations such as Business in the Community and London Remade, which seeks markets for goods made from recycled materials.

Among our members, we can raise the profile of CSR by encouraging presentations at branches (there have already been a few successful events) and making it a major element of the regional member-only events.

The professional practice team has been heavily engaged in CSR for 18 months or more and we have already created topic reference files, a purchasing directors' guide to the subject, and a CSR interest group that brings practitioners together with others such as non-governmental organisations.

We are also increasingly active in lobbying and consultation, putting speakers up at external events, and producing guidance products and practitioner tools.

We will work with providers of various CSR indices, such as FTSE4Good, to get supply chain factors included, rather than produce our own index. Additionally, we are working with Traidcraft, Oxfam and others on their project to create responsible purchasing indicators (a bit like key PIs).

There are also our usual activities, including contributions to the national and trade media, working closely with SM, commissioning research and, as always, developing clear messages and positions that are well understood by those of us who have to put them over.

This summary can only scratch the surface of a complex network of activities. Further news will appear at www.cips.org