Episode details

Radio 4,05 Aug 2014,38 mins
The Business Covenant
Available for over a year
The financial crisis of 2008, exorbitant pay deals for bankers and business executives and high energy bills have all contributed to a collapse in the public's trust of big business. Lord Digby Jones, former head of the employers' organisation the CBI and then a trade minister in the last government, examines whether the relationship between business, government and society has been fractured beyond repair. He asks if the answer might be a "Business Covenant" - a deal outlining business's obligations to society and what business can expect from Government in return. Through interviews with business leaders and politicians he examines the case for a formalised deal for business. Could that restore trust in the companies that create the wealth on which the country depends? Producer: Caroline Bayley Editor: Richard Knight.
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