Ms Catherine Heaney:

We measure awareness using several key performance indicators, KPIs. I refer to website analytics, interactions on social media and the number of interfaces we have at our meetings. We try to record all of that information. The forum is made up of voluntary members who have full-time jobs. As far as possible, however, when a voluntary member attends a speaking event, we try to ensure we have a record in order that we know roughly how many were there. Other measures we use include media hits and attendances at our events. Let us take the example of our CSR leaders' breakfast. Roughly 150 people attend the event, which gives us a sense of the number of initial contacts. If somebody attends or has an interaction, we hope it will be amplified by later communication. As Dr. McHugh stated, we have not had the capacity to measure everything because ours is a voluntary forum which is supported by public servants working across many disciplines. One of the reasons for this engagement was to gain the understanding of the committee and perhaps work together to establish what is needed and might be helpful in advancing the CSR agenda.

There is also the other point. We have often spoken about measuring, evaluating and how one gets SMEs to produce another report. This is the time of year to make tax returns and it is another day’s work on top of all the other work to be done in the seven days of the week. If we are asking businesses to report more, particularly SMEs which comprise the majority of businesses, it has to be easy for them to do so. There has to be a balance struck between reporting and how we use the information we receive.

It is an important point that the Deputy has raised, one about which we have not stopped talking since our first meeting in 2014. It is about figuring out how to do it best without over-encumbering businesses, particularly SMEs.