Call for business to give `moral lead' (Institute of Business Ethics).

The UK's Institute of Business Ethics made a strong plea in November for business to give a moral lead to society, and for more companies to have written codes of ethical conduct. IBE was marking its 10th anniversary with a breakfast in London's Mansion House, attended by 175 business and religious leaders.

Eight years ago, only 18 per cent of Britain's leading businesses had written codes. Now 47 per cent did, according to IBE's Director, Stanley Kiaer.

Kiaer said there had been a sea-change in recent years in the attitude of business towards its social responsibility, particularly in an age when few people went to church and when families and schools `too often fail to encourage children to make a moral judgement'. Business, he believed, could give a `moral lead' to the nation.

`Society rightly demands exemplary standards from business,' said Keith Taylor, Chairman and Chief Executive of Esso. `Honesty, integrity and core values must be the cornerstone of our dealing. A reputation for fair dealing is a priceless asset.' Esso had first drawn up its own house code in 1975.

`Business may sometimes wish it could be morally neutral, but in practice ethics intrude at every turn,' said Sir Bryan Nicholson, Chairman of the private medical service BUPA. `We need a compass to point us in the right direction, which has to be clearly articulated to all employees.' When it came to social responsibility, business needed to be `proactive' rather than reacting to public pressure or awaiting constraints. Sir Bryan saw BUPA's own ethics statement as `a discipline which the business chooses to impose upon itself'.

Glaxo Wellcome had turned to IBE for advice in drawing up its code of conduct, said the group's executive director for legal and corporate affairs, Jeremy Strachan. `Arguably, this simply means making explicit what was previously implicit.'

Sir Geoffrey Chandler, Chairman of Amnesty International's UK Business Group, said that when it came to issues like the boardroom `fat cats' controversy, `most pressure for change came from public opinion'. He called on IBE to become `more vocal' on such issues.

At a time when there was a moral vacuum in society, business needed to give `moral and ethical leadership in the wider community', said IBE's President-elect, John Reeve, executive chairman of the Willis Corroon Group.