Introduction
Sir Hector LaingSir Hector, Mr. de Grey, Sir Mark, My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen.
It's now almost two years since the Per Cent Club was launched by Prince CharlesThe Prince of Wales at a reception at No.10 Downing Street. That occasion saw the celebration of something rare: an idea full of hope for the future. [end p1] One felt, as the song says, “This Could be the Start of Something Big” .
And so it has turned out. Already you have nearly two hundred members, some of the biggest companies in the land, committed to community investment of at least ½ per cent of their profits. And many give more. [end p2]
But that's only the beginning. I'm sure the best is yet to come.
So far the Per Cent Club has had a short history. But it follows a long and distinguished tradition in our country—a tradition of business in the community. A tradition that, as people built up their trade and their wealth, they wanted to [end p3] use it to benefit others.
The City Guilds and Livery Companies are perhaps its oldest expression, with their great tradition of building schools and providing training for apprentices. Some of our famous schools still bear their name or are supported by them— Haberdashers, Merchant Taylors, St. Paul's. [end p4]
We saw it too in the aftermath of the 19th century Industrial Revolution in which our great cities were built. Inevitably, as people swarmed from the villages to work in the cities there were problems of public health and conditions in factories. But those were tackled, a process with which the names of great men such as [end p5] Disraeli and Shaftesbury will forever be associated.
We saw that as businessmen prosper, many of them have an innate desire to share and use that prosperity to help others. What a debt we owe to those we call the City Fathers. [end p6]
Who were these people? They were businessmen who lived near their factories and offices, who wanted to build something that would endure. Cities that would be a fitting witness to their achievements, and which would enrich the lives of all who lived in them. So they provided fine municipal buildings, schools, hospitals and parks, many of which still serve the community. [end p7]
And their generosity didn't stop there. They understood that, to have full complete lives, people needed libraries, music and the arts. And so today we have the great art galleries—the Tate, the Walker, the Whitworth.
It was these people, the men of foresight, who built the city, the city in which they [end p8] lived. They realised that there can be no future for business without the community. Because business can only succeed by satisfying its customers. But they also knew that there can be no true community without business. You need both to build the fabric of the civilised society. So much of what is best in our towns and [end p9] cities reflects the efforts of those who used their success in business to endow the community in which they lived.
Economic Decline
But in post-war Britain, something began to happen to that rich tradition of business in the community. A new attitude developed. Surely, they said, the Government is [end p10] responsible for all those things. And so public spending and taxation rose. Burgeoning controls drained incentive, enterprise and vitality from our commerce and industry. Divisions in the community were heightened as the doctrines of class struggle were increasingly applied. People talked about the two sides of [end p11] industry. About something called the corporate state.
Whatever happened to ordinary citizens? What was their place in that artificial creation? What room was there for people's natural ambitions to help their families—surely then and now the deepest instinct of all? [end p12]
Businessmen lost the habit of leadership—and with it much of their confidence. They were unwilling to speak out—it might cause trouble. I seem to remember it was one of our politicians who said: “What people want is a little bit of peace and quiet” . And for a time people actually believed it. [end p13]
Allen Sheppard put his finger on it when he told last month's Business in the Community conference: “British society by the late 1970s had become very institutionalised. High tax rates and inflation encouraged the attitude that the infamous “they” would tackle all social and economic problems.” [end p14]
The New Climate
Today, ten years later, what a change is here.
Control after control has been stripped away and responsibility returned to all those who work in business—on the shop floor, in the board room, in the office and in management. Enterprise has been restored. [end p15]
How did all this come about? I will tell you. Government had the courage to limit the powers of the state and enlarge the opportunities of the people. A former leading trade unionist, Jack Peel, put it this way: “Dependence on the welfare system for long periods reduces drive and effort, whereas people who are encouraged to be independent and [end p16] to use their talents to take care of themselves and their families, are likely to be motivated to achieve things on their own.” Hear, hear to that.
Individuals are now once again achieving great things.
So too are businesses. [end p17] They are successfully carrying out their first duty and their first service to the community—to make sure that they are running profitable businesses with a good future.
That's the way to make employment grow. And that's the way to create rising prosperity. [end p18]
But although this is at the centre of business life, it's not the boundary. The Per Cent Club, with its sense of obligation and spirit of generosity, bears witness to that. Business is back—right back in the community. [end p19]
The Recent Record
Earlier this Autumn the Charities Aid Foundation produced a report. Its contents surprised many people, even its authors. The results show, and I quote: “That companies, particularly the larger ones, support the community to a much greater extent than has been previously reported.” [end p20]
This is impartial evidence. And business support is not confined to gifts of cash. A survey, including a number of members of the Per Cent Club, showed that the value of companies' community involvement in kind is over twice as large as their contributions in cash. [end p21]
Per Cent Club Achievements
Members of the Per Cent Club are contributing to the community in so many ways: —providing help, such as scanners, for our hospitals; —purchasing from small local businesses; —supporting disabled children and athletes; —helping to establish the new City Technology Colleges; [end p22] —encouraging youngsters to start up in business; —fighting drug addiction; —assisting the long term unemployed and ethnic minorities to get jobs.
In these and all the other cases it is not only financial help that counts, vital though that is. [end p23] Just as important is taking a personal interest in the people that you are helping.
Education
And still there is much to be done.
Just as we have restored freedom to industry within a framework of law, so we are giving schools more autonomy and the [end p24] freedom to opt-out of local authority control and run their own affairs—provided that they teach a basic curriculum and reach certain standards.
You believe in delegating responsibility as far as possible down the line. That is precisely what we are doing in our educational reforms. [end p25] Schools need some of your people to become governors. You will be needed: —to bring the expertise in budgeting; —to ensure that teachers know what is happening in the business world; —to support better technological education for the new science-based industries; —to see more attention is given to [end p26] languages so that we are ready for 1992.
Many of you are of course already developing your links with our schools in other ways. Businesses have responded enthusiastically to the Compact Initiative in the inner cities. What better way to motivate our youngsters, than to guarantee them a job [end p27] if their school work comes up to standard?
Our objective is to enlarge opportunity and prepare young people for the future. Your response shows that it is your aim too. [end p28]
Training
But seven out of ten of the people who will be at work in the year 2000 are already in the workforce now. So they won't profit from the changes in our education system. They depend on training during their working lives. [end p29]
You will know from this week's Employment White Paper that we are devolving more responsibility for training to business. You know what you need for your business better than any Government department. You know that people are our most precious business resource. [end p30]
So we hope you will take new responsibility for the delivery of training through the Training and Enterprise Councils. Demographic trends tell us that, in the next few years, there will be fewer young people leaving school or college—indeed by 1995 those in the labour force aged under twenty-five will fall by over a million. Just when we need more skilled people we may find we have less. [end p31] We shall only win tomorrow's industrial prizes if our people are well trained and highly motivated.
The Environment
The success of industry, commerce and agriculture has given us a standard of living undreamed of a generation or two ago. But we are only now beginning to understand some of the long term problems [end p32] this can bring. The future of the community demands that business does not try to prosper at the expense of the environment.
That means that the chemicals and other materials we use must be disposed of in a way that safeguards the environment. It also means we must heed the dangers posed by the greenhouse effect. [end p33] The fact that half the carbon dioxide generated by the industrial revolution is still in the atmosphere gives some idea of the size of the problem. And we're still adding three billion tonnes a year. To ignore this could expose us to climatic change whose dimension and effects are unpredictable. So energy efficiency is crucial. [end p34]
We, who have inherited so much, must hand on a safe, secure future to our children and to their children; to all who come after us. As I said earlier this year: “No generation has a freehold on this earth. All we have is a life tenancy—with a full repairing lease.” [end p35]
And let's not forget that small things matter and can make all the difference to the local community. Like the external appearance of our factories and offices. And keeping the front of our shops clear of litter. Business can set an example here too. [end p36]
The Arts
The fact that we are today in the splendid surroundings of the Royal Academy, with Henry Moore all round us surveying the proceedings with the keen eye of an artist, is a reminder of the wide support given by business to the arts.
Earlier this year it was my privilege in this same building to launch the Royal Academy [end p37] Trust Corporate Membership Scheme. I understand that particular Scheme is proving most successful, and indeed is supported by many members of the Per Cent Club.
How much I appreciate that. I was brought up to love music and literature. But I did not have the chance then to see [end p38] many beautiful pictures. It was only later that the glory of these treasures became part of my own experience.
As part of the Royal Academy's Scheme, companies receive a number of free tickets for their people to come here and see artistic treasures themselves. That too enlarges their experience. [end p39] A thriving community depends not only on success in the workplace, but also on the ability to enjoy leisure, and appreciate the great creative arts.
Growth of the Per Cent Club
In these and many other ways business is not and cannot be apart from the community—it is a part of the community. [end p40]
What, then, of the future? Where does the Per Cent Club go from here? May I make a suggestion?
Most of your early recruits were large national companies with factories and offices up and down the country. National initiatives will rightly remain an important part of your work. But as we've seen, we don't just have a [end p41] national community. We have a whole host of local communities, each with its own history and identity. It's local business people, many in medium sized companies, who have a unique contribution to make. They more than anyone have an intimate understanding of the areas in which they live and work. [end p42]
So the challenge now is to encourage more medium sized businesses to strengthen their commitment. That way you should hit the target set by The Prince of Wales of raising Per Cent Club membership to five hundred over the next two years. Six hundred would be even better. And personally I've got nothing against seven hundred. [end p43]
Peroration
Meanwhile, the great news is that business is once again giving a lead: not only in your companies' work but in the life of the community as a whole. We are moving into a time where each citizen is valued for his talents, his contribution, his sense of responsibility, his self-respect. By keeping the accent firmly on the [end p44] individual, the Per Cent Club is helping to break down barriers, to ensure that Britain's future remains free and unrestricted.
And thank goodness we are no longer labelled as this or that class or group.
It was with the greatest possible pleasure that last Saturday Geoffrey Howe and I cut out [end p45] of the European Council communiqué the ghastly phrase “socio-professional” and substituted “citizens” . Good heavens, have you met any socio-professionals lately? I haven't. We are all citizens, every one of us.
The enterprise and initiative that built our cities is once again alive and well. [end p46] Closer business involvement in the community is not just a matter of altruism—though you can't beat the British people for generosity of spirit. It's not only a question of charity or philanthropy—important as they are.
The truth is that investment in the community is sound practical business sense. Harnessing the enthusiasm of employees and [end p47] shareholders to widen their horizons helps build better and more successful businesses. None of us—whether as individuals or as businessmen and women—grows stronger when we only look inwards. It's when we look outwards, as our ancestors did, that we can see—and can seize—the opportunities that lie ahead. [end p48]
I wish the Per Cent Club one hundred per cent success as you do just that.