Corporate Political Engagement Index
The Corporate Political Engagement Index supports companies and the wider private sector to raise standards of political engagement
Corporate political engagement is how the business sector interacts with Governments. It’s a legitimate activity. It helps Governments to design policies that help companies to thrive and regulations that protect the public interest.
But when done in the shadows it can be a serious corruption risk where decisions are made in the interest of the rich and powerful.
Corruption can undermine people’s trust in democracy, the economy, institutions and leaders. The Corporate Political Engagement Index supports companies and the wider private sector to raise standards of political engagement. The index provides companies with an understanding of the respective strengths and weaknesses of their current approach to political engagement.
Best practice
Control Environment
The control environment concerns the corporate culture, values, operational style and organisational structures that underpin a company’s approach to political engagement. Having the right structures in place enables companies to spot - and stop – political corruption.
Best Practice:
- Commit to values-driven political engagement –focused on integrity, ethical behaviour and transparency
- Have a legitimate voice – ensure politician engagement focuses on meeting business objectives
- Ensure accountability - make sure responsibility for political engagement rest in the boardroom
- Be consistent – implement group-wide, global approaches to political engagement
Political Contributions
Political contributions can range from money and gifts in-kind for a political party or politician, to loans, free or discounted services, property, sponsorship of events and the use of facilities at less than market value. Making political contributions, particularly in secret, is often associated with improper behaviour.
Best Practice:
- Have a policy not to make political contributions – either directly or indirectly.
- If contributions are made, ensure that:
- They are made in exceptional circumstances and only to support a genuine democratic process
- They do not disproportionately advantage any party or political viewpoint
- Payments are made public, whether or not it is a legal requirement
Responsible Lobbying
Lobbying is any direct or indirect communication with political decision-makers for the purpose of influencing laws, regulations and government plans. It can also include attempts to influence public opinion, outside of normal advertising and marketing activity, with a view to impacting the views if politicians and government officials.
When carried out responsibly, lobbying is a legitimate and beneficial activity, although it should never undermine people's trust in democracy, the economy, institutions and leaders.
Best Practice:
- A publicly available lobbying policy – be open about what the company is lobbing to change
- Monitor lobbyists – ensure lobbyist and membership organisations adhere to the company’s values and code-of-conduct
- Demonstrate transparency – reveal when a serving politician is hired and how much is spent on lobbying activities
Revolving Door
The revolving door involves the movement of individuals between positions of public office and jobs in the private sector, in either direction. This includes hiring public officials, seconding staff to the public sector, receiving secondees from the public sector and contact with former staff now in public office.
The revolving door poses risks of conflicts of interest, trading in influence, bribery, reputational damage and public mistrust.
Best Practice:
- Design policies and procedures for the revolving door – going beyond compliance with laws governing the post-public employment of public officials.
- Cover both the hiring of former politicians and public officials and the movement of former employees to public sector positions
- Publish details of secondments to and from the public sector – revealing the number, location and purpose of secondments
Transparency
Public reporting is one of the most important ways in which companies demonstrate their commitment to responsible political engagement.
Information about corporate political activities is often difficult to find, making it hard for stakeholders - investors, customers and employees - to understand a company’s public policy position, how much they invests in lobbying and if the company is working ethnically.
Best Practice:
- Fully report political engagement – from guiding principles, objectives and lobbying interests to activities, contributions and expenditures
- Ensure accessibility– consolidate information for stakeholders in a dedicated web page or report
Take the test
Use this sample questionnaire to test the current strength of your company's approach to engagement with current and former politicians and government officials.
The results of the questionnaire offer an indication of where your company might rate in the Corporate Political Engagement Index.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the purpose of the index?
The index is designed to raise standards of corporate political engagement worldwide. It seeks to do this by assessing the policies, procedures and practice of international companies against Transparency International UK’s guidance on responsible political engagement. Results are consolidated and rated within an index, enabling comparison of companies by boards of directors, investors, analysts and other stakeholders, providing them with a tool to raise standards and prevent corruption.
What is the methodology?
Our assessment of a company’s individual record on political engagement was based entirely on the information made available to the public by that company. In particular, we reviewed company websites, including downloadable reports for evidence of reporting on political engagement as well as any functioning hyperlinks to other materials companies include on their website. In reviewing your company’s materials, we will assess the completeness and accessibility of the information, in particular:
- The amount of information a company publishes about their overall approach to political engagement.
- The issues and topicsof material interest to them and to their stakeholders.
- The specific activities they undertake.
- Key expenditures figures.
Once we assessed companies we notified them of our preliminary findings and provided them with a right-to-reply period to bring any corrections or additional supporting material to our attention.
How are the companies rated?
Companies are placed into one of six bands, from A to F, based on their scores. The bands reflect the extent of public evidence and the completeness of policies and procedures for political activities.
- A - The company demonstrates excellent standards. Continuous monitoring and review is recommended to ensure standards remain high.
- B - The company demonstrates good standards. Continuous monitoring and review is recommended and there is scope to implement some improvements.
- C - The company demonstrates fair standards. Continuous monitoring and review is recommended and there is scope to implement a number of improvements.
- D - The company demonstrates fairly poor standards. Review is recommended and there is scope to implement improvements across most areas.
- E - The company demonstrates poor standards. Review is recommended and there is scope to implement improvements across the majority of area.
- F - The company demonstrates very poor standards. Prompt review is recommended and there is scope to implement multiple improvements across all areas.
Did the index asses internal and external evidence?
No, the index only assessed evidence from publicly available sources. We deem transparent publication of information relating to political activities to be highly important, as it increases customer and investor confidence in the company and the political process, ensures the details of companies’ involvement in the political process is open to public scrutiny and enables companies to share and understand best practice.
How are the results used?
We are publishing the results so that they are available to relevant stakeholders. We envisage that the results will encourage companies to review their own practices. Within industry these results demonstrate which companies are industry leaders in ethical corporate political engagement. Both between and within industries we hope these results will begin a conversation on different approaches taken to managing this arena. For interested investors and stakeholders this index demonstrates which companies are responsibly engaging with politics, taking more long-term views about their growth and acting with transparency about their methods of working.
I don't agree with the results for my company.
While we are no longer able to accept further evidence from companies for this iteration of the Index, we plan to run this Index again and encourage companies to work with us on gathering evidence. Please do contact us here so we can note your contact details for the next iteration.
If you feel we have assessed your company wrongly or missed out a key piece of information, please contact us.
Can I assess my company using the questionnaire?
Yes we have developed a self-assessment tool which allows your company to assess the strength of its policies and procedures relating to corporate political engagement.
I would like advice on how my company can improve our policies and procedures relating to political engagement
Please see our guidance document Wise Counsel or Dark Arts? Principles and Guidance for Responsible Corporate Political Engagement.