CBI scorecard for change

• We identified and contacted external experts to set up the Committee. The first meeting took place on Friday 28 July, with the below attendees: 
  • Jill Ader, CBI Board Member and Committee Chair 
  • Elizabeth Wallace, CBI Chief People Officer 
  • Elizabeth Broderick, UN special rapporteur and sexual discrimination commissioner 
  • Fay Maxted, OBE, CEO for The Survivors Trust 
  • Dr Sarah Hughes, CEO, Mind 
  • Dr Ian Peters, MBE. Director, Institute of Business Ethics. 
• The second meeting took place on 11 January 2024 and provided an insightful discussion, reviewing our transformation journey, in particular Pulse Survey results, to inform next steps for 2024
• The third meeting is scheduled for 17 April.

• All staff have completed a mandatory training module – Introduction to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion 
• We have rolled out new best practice policies, with supporting communications for all staff. We've delivered a new Alcohol & Drug Misuse Policy, and updated policies covering: disciplinary; grievance; anti-discrimination; bullying and harassment; whistleblowing, and complaints, all supported by FAQ documents. A new Employee Handbook has been published
• Our Learning and Development plan for 2024 has commenced with Inclusivity training for all colleagues underway. The CBI Leadership Programme will commence in April 2024 for over 70 colleagues. Other L&D focussing on core skills and competencies will be delivered in 2024 via the new CBI Academy.

• The new CBI values and leadership behaviours framework was launched to CBI staff on 7 December
• The new values have been built into our new objective setting and performance review process, to ensure they are monitored and embedded
• A values activation and embedding plan has been developed with a series of activities planned throughout the year.

• We’ve implemented the new organisation design and have appointed individuals into leadership roles
• CBI organisational objectives for Half 1 2024 – with a specific focus on values, leadership and cultural transformation – have been cascaded to colleagues in January and are linked into individual quarterly goal setting
• Our new Valuing Individual Performance (VIP) process has been launched for 2024 and Managers have been trained on how to use the process and support their teams to develop their quarterly goals. A post implementation review will be held after the end of Q1 to review the process and identify and required changes
• All managers, directors and our Executive Committee have been enrolled in the new CBI Leadership Programme that will commence in April and run through to September, with a focus on accountable leadership and the CBI values.

• All recommendations have now been implemented. We’ll continue to monitor and seek feedback from colleagues, members and other stakeholders.

• The CBI Board is receiving regular updates on grievances, with the latest report presented on 28 November. The next Board meeting is scheduled for March. 

• The objective setting process has been rolled out - 95%+ of CBI staff set 2023 Q4 objectives
• In January 2024 we launched our new Valuing Individual Performance (VIP) process and Managers have been trained on how to use the process and support their teams to develop their quarterly goals. A post implementation review will be held after the end of Q1 to review the process and identify and required changes
• The first 360 feedback exercise for 2024 will take place, across the whole organisation, in March, ready for end of quarter performance reviews.

• We've improved reporting accuracy and efficiency by using a series of dashboards, which will develop to be more user friendly and encourage self-service
• We've reviewed the current metrics our Executive Committee use to ensure these are fit for purpose and comprehensive
• We've reviewed the way in which these metrics are reported, and the time allocated to their reporting to ensure we are getting the most out of the metrics we already have in place, whilst working closely with our People/HR team to ensure there is minimal duplication
• The CBI metrics team has engaged internal stakeholders across the CBI to develop a metrics and KPI pack for the CBI’s leadership team, including key metrics such as finance, people and culture, stakeholder and member feedback, media, and social media. 

• Anna Marks, Vivian Hunt and Lord Bilimoria stood down from the CBI Board having come to the end of their term (unrelated to events of 2023)
• Victoria Cochrane joined the CBI Board as Senior Independent Director and Chair of the newly revamped Audit and Risk Committee
• The CBI Nominations Committee met in October 2023 to agree the process and approach to the recruitment of two new Non-Executive Directors (NED) to the CBI Board. This process is being led by the CBI Senior Independent Director, Victoria Cochrane
• Applications for the NED roles on the CBI board closed on 30 November. The nominations committee will review the full list of applicants and action next steps
• All CBI board members stood for (re-)election at the 2023 Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 6 December, and will continue to stand for re-election at the annual AGM
• Rupert Soames, OBE, has been confirmed as the new President of the CBI subject to a vote from the membership at the 2024 AGM.

• The main reforms to the CBI’s governance will come in any recommendations from the formally commissioned external review being conducted by Ffion Hague, an expert in board evaluation 
• On 29 August 2023 the CBI Board received and discussed the findings from the external governance review from Ffion 
• The discussion focussed on key recommendations around the Board reporting back into the CBI Chairs' Committee, the creation of a Senior Independent Director role and an elected Chair of the Chairs' Committee to be separate from the CBI President 
• The external review of the CBI’s governance structures and processes was conducted by Ffion. The conclusions and recommendations were discussed with the CBI's President, Director General, and the board in August 2023. The Board then received a further update in October on a detailed action plan around each of the recommendations 
• Ffion Hague's Independent Board Evaluation focused on three areas:
  1. Governance structures and process: looking at the overall composition of the CBI’s governance bodies, and the underlying processes that run them
  2. Connecting the Board with the business: examining the link between the Board and the wider CBI, how the Board connects to employees, and how it reports back to the membership.
  3. Board composition: Scrutinising the Board’s makeup, its recruitment processes and the range of skills on the Board.
• The CBI is embracing the findings and recommendations of this review and are committed to publishing this review in full in the interest of transparency
• The CBI governance team, working closely with the CBI President and members of the CBI Board, will implement the recommendations of the Review over the next year. Some are simpler process changes which have been implemented immediately, others will take more time to ensure we get it right.   

• CBI Board assessment – The Senior Independent Director will conduct an assessment of the Boards performance towards the end of 2024, and the CBI will commit to an external review at least every three years, as specified in the UK Corporate Governance Code.

• Victoria Cochrane has joined the CBI Board as a Senior Independent Director and Chair of the revamped and relaunched CBI Audit and Risk Committee
• The Terms of Reference for the Audit and Risk Committee have been reworked and agreed with a greater emphasis on risk and compliance
• Victoria Cochrane has completed an induction meeting with various employees from across the CBI.

• Following an initial review phase, early findings and recommendations were shared with the CBI’s Executive Committee
• A paper was developed and taken to the CBI membership as part of the Q3 Council round for feedback and input
• Following our internal review of the CBI's councils and committees, we are piloting an evolved approach to our policy standing committees, bringing them in line with the new CBI policy priority areas. Policy areas that were identified and prioritised in consultations with CBI members
• All those who had a voice in governance will continue to do so and have been mapped across to the five new policy governing committees
• An initial list of working groups has been signed off
• Initial terms of reference have been drafted for the new committees
• Next, we will:
  • Refresh the CBI website with our renewed approach to governance, including an organigram of all governing groups, and the working groups that feed into them
  • Deliver an elevated Trade Association council to shape and test policy work plans, identifying areas of partnership and amplification
  • Deliver a new feedback approach to better articulate to members how their feedback is informing CBI work and approach. 

• The People and Culture committee met for the first time on 29 August 2023 along with Brian McBride, CBI President and Rain Newton-Smith, Director-General
• The committee discussed its Terms of Reference going forward, the results of the latest employee 'pulse check' results and how the CBI Board could engage with CBI staff going forward
• The committee met again on 30 November and will report directly back to the board on the latest developments and forward-looking plans
• Going forward, the People and Culture sub committee will meet at least four times in 2024. Its purpose is to oversee, promote and enhance the overall well-being, engagement, and development of the organisation's culture and employee satisfaction. Its core objective is to review, monitor and act on the people and culture related matters at the CBI.

The CBI Royal Charter acts as the CBI’s Articles of Association. In 2024 we will undertake to review its suitability and explore whether it needs updated or amended with the Privy Council.

• We've submitted formal consultation responses on: 
  • Treasury consultation on Stamp Taxes on Shares modernisation (22 June)
  • Department for Science, Innovation and Technology consultation on AI Governance (30 June)
  • Low Pay Commission consultation on the National Minimum Wage/National Living Wage (30 June)
  • Department for Business and Trade Retained EU Law Bill – Employment Rights (6 July)
  • HMRC consultation on their tax administration framework review (21 July)
  • HMT’s review of Foreign Direct Investment conducted by Lord Harrington (August)
  • Treasury consultation on legislation for a merged R&D tax credit scheme (8 September)
  • Treasury consultation on Occupational Health (12 September)
  • Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities consultation on the Levelling Up & Regeneration Bill (18 October)
  • Department for Business & Trade call for input on Turkey FTA (December)
  • Department for Business & Trade on Smarter Regulation (January 2024)
• We’ve resumed our role Chairing the Domestic Advisory Group which oversees the implementation of the Trade & Co-operation Act
• We’ve hosted a private roundtable with the DBT Permanent Secretary focused on how to boost the UK’s investment competitiveness
• We've attended meetings with senior decision-makers in all major political parties
• We've met with senior decision makers and policy makers in all devolved nations and throughout English regions
• Working-level engagement has resumed with government and the Labour Party – particularly with key decision makers ahead of the Autumn Statement
• We appeared before the Business & Trade Select Committee.

• Rain and Louise met the Prime Minister’s new Business Advisory team and is in regular contact with the Prime Minister’s Business Adviser.
• We have also resumed regular engagement with Labour, with Rain officially rejoining the Shadow B5 calls in November
• Rain met the Chancellor and Shadow Chancellor in October following our Autumn Statement submission to discuss key fiscal asks and will do so again in the run-in to the Spring Budget
• Conversations with Special Advisers in HMT/Shadow teams have been ongoing following the NPF publication, and in the lead up to the Autumn statement and are now being replicated in advance of the Spring Budget
• We had significant influence on the contents of the Autumn Statement. We have a full article on our website outlining what the Chancellor announced, where the CBI had impact, and what it means for your business. It includes:
  • Permanent full expensing – since 2021, we've been campaigning for full expensing and the Chancellor referenced us in his speech as he confirmed he would make the scheme permanent
  • Improving grid connectivity – in September, we fed back that delays in building electricity transmission infrastructure and obtaining connections was hampering growth and decarbonisation. The Chancellor announced reform of the grid connection process to cut waiting times and includes freeing up over 100GW of capacity so that projects can connect sooner
  • Merged R&D tax credit scheme – throughout HMT’s review on R&D tax reliefs, we’ve pushed for them to introduce a globally competitive R&D tax credits scheme that is simple, certain and drives investment from innovative businesses of all sizes. The Chancellor laid out a new simplified R&D scheme and increased support for R&D intensive and loss-making companies to meet those aims
  • Support for technology adoption – one of our long-standing asks has been around the innovative Made Smarter advanced manufacturing technology adoption programme, which is crucial for UK businesses to effectively adopt technology to improve productivity and tackle labour shortages. We’ve had confirmation that we’ll get £100m in funding over four years to do just this.

• Jonathan Reynolds, Shadow Business and Trade Secretary; and Jeremy Hunt, Chancellor, delivered keynote addresses to our GE Countdown event
• The CBI continues to represent business in the UK on the international stage, including through its attendance at COP28 in Dubai and in preparations for the B7 due to take place later this year in June
• On 28 November we published the CBI Business Manifesto: Delivering Sustainable Growth, setting out the steps the next UK government can take to deliver sustainable growth
• The Manifesto was informed by:
  • More than 100 cross sector, one-to-one discussions with businesses of all sizes from across UK nations and regions
  • Convening more than 400 business leaders through CBI Regional Councils, Listening Sessions and Working Groups
  • Consulting 70 of the UK’s leading Trade Associations, speaking on behalf of over 133,000 businesses
• In the manifesto the CBI commits framing and leading the economic debate across 2024 ahead of the General Election, raising the voice of business and campaigning for action to deliver sustainable growth
• CBI CEO, Rain Newton-Smith, used her speech at the Advertising Association to set why in an election year, all parties must have the courage to look to the long game on the economy
• We’ve continued to engage and share our analysis with the Labour Party on key policy priorities – such as the New Deal for Employees, tax roadmap and green growth
• Hosted c-suite level member roundtable with the Shadow DESNEZ Secretary, Ed Miliband, on green investment, and have attended roundtables with Labour on business rates, prompt payments and high-growth industries.
• We have regular engagement activities secured for members with key political stakeholders – including private roundtables with multiple members of the Shadow Ministerial team on key member priorities.

• Our digital impact statement communicates our major wins against what we have called on the government to change, backed by member insights and challenges
• We will continue to communicate our impact every six months, ensuring our members and the wider public know how we are championing the voice of business.

• Our mission statement is firmly rooted in the work we did with members before the EGM, reflecting our core strengths and purpose: 
  • “We serve as the catalyst between industry and government to drive positive change, speaking for businesses of all sizes and sectors across the whole economy, in every UK region and nation, ensuring sustainable growth for the benefit of society.”

• We’ve agreed the CBI’s policy teams will focus on four transitions in pursuit of sustainable growth around Net Zero, Future of Work & Skills, Tech & Innovation, and the Competitiveness of the UK – from the perspective of both the regions and nations but also globally
• We took our future workplan to members, and members approved our core areas of focus
• We’ve narrowed the focus of the three projects looking at TAs, regions & nations, and SMEs to better address the challenges that were identified during the member listening and consultation phases. We’ve also developed early proposals to meet these challenges
• We’ve completed a memorandum of understanding on new ways of working in partnership with the TAs, and the objectives for doing so, following input from the Trade Association Council
• We’re elevating the Trade Association Council to advise across all areas of the CBI workplan, highlighting policy areas which would have high impact on TA members, and identifying areas for amplification and partnership
• We’ve agreed proposals to have adequate representation of regional and SME members on all relevant councils to ensure their voice is better represented at all levels
• We used the Q3 Council round to ensure our policy pledges reflect the prioritisation from the insights gathered from our members.

• All regional councils have seen, fed back on and approved our 2024 workplan
• Individual policy teams have finalised their 12-month plans to deliver on our priorities – including how this work runs alongside our core influencing and Business Manifesto.