In 2020-21, the Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research (CSEAR), University of St Andrews, conducted an assessment of the human rights policies, processes, and practices of fifteen leading Scottish companies. Applying the Corporate Human Rights Benchmark (CHRB) Core Indicator Assessment methodology, findings from the study highlight that:

• While the majority of the Scottish companies assessed had a broad level commitment to respect human rights, an explicit commitment to respect the human rights of workers was very low across the sample.
• One third of the companies assessed had no publicly available information that could indicate that any UNGP implementation had taken place.
• All of the Scottish companies evaluated as part of this assessment scored zero on at least one of the core indicators. This means that none of Scotland’s largest companies can demonstrate that they fully meet the basic criteria for UNGP implementation.
• The majority of companies evaluated as part of this assessment scored zero across all indicators related to the process of human rights due diligence.

The report draws attention to the urgent need for Scottish companies to make human rights a priority and to more comprehensively implement the UNGPs in order to develop human rights capacity and governance mechanisms. The report also recommends that the Scottish Government identify and address regulatory and policy gaps, and provide effective guidance to business. To this end, the report suggests that the Scottish Government should take measures to develop human rights awareness among Scottish business as well as training and guidance on the implementation of the UNGPs. Such measures could be incorporated within a Scottish National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights alongside a commitment to undertake regular benchmarking of Scottish companies.

You can access the report here Corporate Human Rights Benchmark Report 2022.