Call for evidence outcome

Mission-led business review: call for evidence

From:: Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport and Office for Civil Society
Published: 9 May 2016
Last updated: 5 December 2016 — See all updates

Read the full outcome

Independent Advisory Panel Report: Mission-Led Business

PDF, 238 KB, 40 pages

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Mission-Led Business Data Report

PDF, 1.46 MB, 52 pages

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Letter from Minister for Civil Society, Rob Wilson

PDF, 246 KB, 2 pages

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Mission-Led Business Consultation Responses

ZIP, 58.8 MB

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Detail of outcome

As part of the mission-led business review, we sought your views on mission-led business in the UK and how to support them to grow over the next decade. This call for evidence received over 60 responses which span a variety of businesses, charities, academic institutions and industry bodies of different sizes and from a cross-section of sectors.

This evidence supports the findings and recommendations of the independent advisory panel. The responses to the call for evidence were used in conjunction with the input from the regional events, the quantitative report and other sector reports. The panel was lead by Nigel Wilson, CEO of Legal & General.

Mission-led business review: call for evidence opens and expert panel members named.

Read the terms of reference here.

Original call for evidence

Call for evidence description

The traditional roles of civil society and business are changing for the better. The social sector is becoming more business-like and businesses are keen to demonstrate their social impact. This shift in responsibilities could revolutionise the way we solve some of our biggest social challenges, like aged care, dementia and unemployment.

Mission-led businesses are part of this shift. They are profit-driven businesses that make a powerful commitment to social impact. This model attracts entrepreneurs and investors who want to harness the power of business to make a difference and tackle longstanding social and environmental challenges.

We want to know more about why businesses might adopt this model, how these businesses will grow over time, the challenges they might face and how to address them.

The call is open to everyone with a particular focus on those who run mission-led and mainstream businesses, as well as those who invest in, advise and fund businesses that combine profit and social impact.

Your evidence and ideas will feed into the Cabinet Office’s review of mission-led businesses. We will publish a report with recommendations in autumn 2016.

What are mission-led businesses?

Cabinet Office’s review is focused on any business that fits the following description:

can fully distribute its profits
identifies an intention to have a positive social impact as a central purpose of its business
makes a long-term or binding commitment to deliver on that intention through its business and operations
reports on its social impact to its stakeholders

The review seeks to distinguish between businesses that are intentionally and strategically mission-led in this way and ordinary commercial businesses that engage in corporate social responsibility initiatives. We appreciate that this is a developing area. These characteristics are to be read as inclusive, rather than static and closed.

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