10,000 members of staff online. Soon he says the service is working hard to stop third parties from attempting to intimidate, corrupt or cause harm to serving police officers. Is a group set up to assess the risk to officers caused by the risk to officers caused by the breach has already had 500 referrals and as youve been hearing, 100,000 Illegal Migrants have now crossed the engush migrants have now crossed the English Channel since 2018. The landmark figure was reached today as another 11 dinghies carrying another 550 people were intercepted , attempting to cross intercepted, attempting to cross the channel illegally. In a statement , the Home Office Said statement, the Home Office Said the unacceptable number of people making these dangerous crossings is placing an unprecedented strain on our asylum system in the number of people waiting to start routine hospital treatment in england has reached a new record high. Nhs england found over 7. 5 Million People were waiting to start treatment at the end of june. Thats the highest number since two thousand and seven. Come cutting waiting lists is another of rishi sunak key priority for 2023. Nicola sturgeon has defended her governments use of taxpayers money for travel upgrades. Scotlands former first minister says the spending probably totalled less than just one flight taken by rishi sunak. More than £14 million has been spentin more than £14 million has been spent in three years by Civil Servants in scotland , including servants in scotland, including £10,000 on vip airport upgrades. Her successor , humza yousaf, has her successor, humza yousaf, has ordered a review and the high street chain wilko has collapsed. Today, the companys appointed administrators, after failing to secure a rescue deal, putting 12,000 jobs at risk. The putting 12,000 jobs at risk. The chain has 400 shops across the uk. The home secretary says uk. The home secretary says anyone who took part in suspected looting on londons Oxford Street yesterday must be hunted down and locked up. Nine people were arrested as police wielding batons clashed with dozens of youngsters. It followed posts on social media, including tiktok, encouraging people to steal from a well known sports store. Some outlets shut their doors as crowds gathered and officers had to issue 34 dispersal orders. Issue 34 dispersal orders. Lastly Virgin Galactic has completed its first Space Tourism flight, sending three passengers to the edge of space. A mother and her daughter and eight year old olympian were on board. They enjoyed weightlessness. We understand, for around five minutes as the vss unity reached 85km above the earth. Richard bransons Company Joins jeff bezos , blue origin joins jeff bezos, blue origin and elon musks spacex in the Space Tourism business back on earth. This is gb news across earth. This is gb news across the uk , on your tv, in your car, the uk, on your tv, in your car, on your digital radio. And now on your digital radio. And now on your digital radio. And now on your Smart Speaker by saying, play gb news this is britains news. Channel news. Channel good evening. Dont worry, we good evening. Dont worry, we will get to the farcical scenes in the English Channel today, which i have called carry on up the channel. But first, and this is really , really important, you is really, really important, you may never have heard of them, but theres an organisation called they were founded called b corp. They were founded in the usa in 2006 and they work across the globe to sign up companies to provide them with certificate version of their social and environmental performance. Yep Companies Need to hit a criteria amounting to 80 points. Ill come to how they get those points in a few minutes according to their website, there are now more than 7000 b corporations operating in 93 different countries. So who 93 different countries. So who are they . Well some firms you may have heard of, for example, one who is thoroughly approved of is innocent smoothies. Now, of is innocent smoothies. Now, remember, this was the lot that previously took advice from the trans charity mermaids, which offered chest binders to children without parental consent. Then, of course, weve got body shop. Yes, theyve been certified by b corp and they have an online line safe space for the lgbt community. Obe then theres ben and jerrys. Now theres ben and jerrys. Now they say that illegal migrant ice crossing the English Channel to the uk are doing so because they have no other choice and they have no other choice and the government are scapegoating them quite what thats got to do with ice cream. I have no idea. But there you are. And of course needi but there you are. And of course need i say more . Guardian media need i say more . Guardian media group who, of course are committed to becoming Carbon Neutral by 2030 and wholly unsurprisingly, the bank coutts and co yes, of course there are certified member of b corp indeed the former. Im pleased to say, ceo peter flavel at the time of achieving his B Corp Certification, said this success is no longer means prioritising shareholders at the expense of everything else, though success is now about balancing people , is now about balancing people, profits and the planet. A quick profits and the planet. A quick reminder, folks , when he says reminder, folks, when he says shareholders, he means you. He means us because 39 of that bank, of course , is owned by us. Bank, of course, is owned by us. They were bailed out using our taxes. Now taking a much closer look at this strange , mysterious look at this strange, Mysterious Group is gb news investigates. Reporter charlie peters. Charlie baken reporter charlie peters. Charlie baker. Who are they . Well b corp, as youve said, that 2006 us firm, which is assessing firms according to their environmental, social and governance profiles, how does the business do in that kind of Progressive Field of operations . Now they certify companies who, in their own words , make who, in their own words, make a legal commitment not to only their shareholders, but also what they describe as stakeholders. And in order to make that assessment, they have a Standards Advisory Council which companies which assesses companies according how they meet that according to how they meet that practise. But whos on it . Some very interesting. Very very interesting. Some very interesting people indeed. One of the advisers has a job title. The managing director of corporate Racial Equity at the company she works for. Shes wrote a piece recently about how companies meaningfully companies that meaningfully prioritise racial and economic eqtu prioritise racial and Economic Equity will retain top talent and have a competitive edge. And have a competitive edge. Junior B Corp Consultants that i saw say they specialise in sustainability and what they describe as social impact action plans. And we also saw one plans. And we also saw one Senior B Corp executive lamenting what he described as the emotional reactions of white managers in dealing with implicit bias issues. Managers in dealing with implicit bias issues. As you can implicit bias issues. As you can see, some very heavily laden progressive language in their work. But finally , one of the work. But finally, one of the most interesting, i think , most interesting, i think, comments we saw from from Senior B Corp leaders was its executive director in the uk who said on linkedin that its a Global Network working to reinvent our Economic System so that it works for each and every one of us, reinvent our global Economic System. Well , coutts is system. Well, coutts is a member and indeed, as youve said. Do you think that the actions of coutts recently in its B Corp Certification work for each and every one of us in its work didnt work very well for me and perhaps many others. Now. So lets say im a company and i want to get the b corps certification. Whats the process i have to go through . Well, there are a score of 80 out of 200 on their Impact Assessment or gb news investigates took that Impact Assessment today and it was quite extraordinary. Some of the questions that they wanted us to look at and an Inclusive Recruitment and hiring process focusing around equality, diversity and inclusion was really at the heart of this offering. So much of it revolved around this. They want to know if you actively recruit from organisations or services serve Individuals Services that serve individuals from what they describe as underrepresented communities such ethnic minorities and such as ethnic minorities and the lgbt community. Theyre very interested. If you ask about the incarceration history of potential applicants to the company and you also get additional points if your company is led or majority led by anyone from these, again, under represented groups. So you get nought. 41 points. If you have a female leaders and nought point eight one points if you have a majority led female executive c suite in your company, the same is true if youre led by individuals from underrepresented racial or ethnic minorities. Underrepresented racial or ethnic minorities. You also have ethnic minorities. You also have extra points for a having a group explicitly responsible for diversity, equity or inclusion. Diversity, equity or inclusion. In coutts of course famously had its its its Racial Equality Task force which using edi related investigations changed the de banking process that that bank has. They also reward and give many points for Diversity Improvement goals. They give you points for having Equity Analysis on pay by demographic factors, identity, identity , factors, identity, identity, identity. But heres the most shocking bit you get just 0. 09 points for managing the privacy and security of a client and their customer data. Well now lets have a think about this, shall we . Because. Because coutts breach my privacy so can they remain a member of bethel or should we report them to b corp . I think i think there is clearly questions for coutts and b corp to answer here in how they assess how companies become certified because clearly there is such a focus on this esg related assessment scandal assessment criteria and theyre clearly very focussed on the diversity and the identity of workers and indeed leadership. As we know that coutts was. But when it comes to some of the stuff that really matters to customers and businesses alike , customers and businesses alike, the transparency of data, the security of data and personal information , well that doesnt information, well that doesnt seem to get the same level of award and know and you talk about groups, but about underrepresent groups, but its because im its interesting because im looking here at a company that is a B Corp Company that a Recruitment Company and they are very, very clear. Very, very clear. Theyre part of an initiative called no turning back. They have goals to work towards 20 of the wider marketing sector to come from black asian minority ethnic communities and 20 to stay in the sector and reach the top jobs. And 20 of the population are not from those categories. So actually, what categories. So actually, what theyre pushing on firms is for White British born to be underrepresented. And in underrepresented. And in a sense, charlie, dont you think that this organisation that claims to be about diversity and fairness and equity and equality actually fully doesnt there come a point where people say we are beginning to discriminate against us and clearly these are these requirements in terms of numbers just dont tally, they just dont add up with the population as we know it in great britain, for example. And weve seen how this kind of thinking has out of thinking has played out recently britain with the recently in britain with the governments equality drive governments own equality drive within air force, within the royal air force, where now dozens of white men have successfully sued the government and the raf over their being illegitimately removed from recruitment programs. So clearly a huge programs. So clearly a huge scandal in the brewing here. Charlie, thank you. Good work. And folks, this is just just the beginning on this. I promise you this. Were going to find lot, lot more as the find out a lot, lot more as the next week or two goes by. And when think it, when you think about it, actually, people are being promoted senior positions promoted to senior positions within big companies, not on the bafis within big companies, not on the basis of ability, but on the bafis basis of ability, but on the basis of ability, but on the basis of representing different groups and ticking boxes. But maybe, perhaps, mike hoots has helped a little bit. Maybe the tide is turning the Credit Rating agency s p have dropped their use of similar woke quotas after they faced a backlash from boardrooms across the usa. But for some companies it was all too late. Silicon valley bank in the usa collapsed despite lustrously, there ceo had previously said they were committed to giving more people with diverse backgrounds and perspectives the opportunity to thrive. Well. Perhaps he should thrive. Well. Perhaps he should have focussed rather more on the shareholders of that company and his job in Financial Market s. As they say, if you go woke, youre probably end up going broke. But im youre probably end up going broke. But im joined now by Angela Knight, former economic secretary to the treasury and somebody whos always fought for the idea of actually i think angela coming from the background you did we believe did we not, in a meritocracy. We did we not, in a meritocracy. We believed in people rising to the top. We couldnt care less, top. We couldnt care less, could we . In those days about what race or class or sex they were . When you hear these were . When you hear these criteria that b corp are applying and that firms like coutts are proud to be part of it, whats your reaction . Well, first of all, b corps is not the only group around and requirements come from a lot of different directions. Nigel but can i just say one thing at the start . Youre dead right. I come from the north of england. I spent 16 years in the engineering industry. I was actually the female actually only the second female graduate ever taken on by air products and chemicals inc, the American Industrial gas company. And the reason that i and many years of my life i was either the first or the only woman or sometimes a combination of seemed to be everything i think that you do need more women, more people regard less of their background coming forward, and that isnt woke. That is because you should never you should never take an issue against somebody simply because they are something they are female or they are from a Different Community or they they dont look like we do or Something Like that. But what, though, like that. But what, though, where weve gone to now in the uk is i think the pendulum may have swung a little bit too far in the other way. Youve given some good examples , but if you some good examples, but if you take plcs in general, some good examples, but if you take plcs in general , they have take plcs in general, they have diversity requirements. They diversity requirements. They need to have diversity requirements, not just at board level but also more at executive level. And were reports them in some in some areas. That is a very good thing. Its a question of balance. Are we tipping the wrong side of the line . And i think in some instances we do. Should we have no requirements to look at diversity . Well, i think that would be wrong as well. So terribly sorry. Ive given you a bit of a bad dancer. I understand the argument that we dont want to discriminate against people because theyve got the wrong accent, for arguments sake. Right. | accent, for arguments sake. Right. I get that. I understand that. But ultimately the aim of these organisations evans is now over represent station. You know, i read out, i read out, you know, a b corps Recruitment Company and theyre aiming huge overrepresent , deliberate overrepresent, deliberate overrepresentation in from certain sectors. Doesnt there certain sectors. Doesnt there come a point when so when the white male says, you know what, this isnt good enough. This isnt good enough. I suspect that on Many Companies have blinked a few times at trying to meet both the requirements that theyre supposed to meet on diversity and at the same time also bring in the best people for the job. Youre right to flag that. The youre right to flag that. The trouble is its very difficult things to say, and you do get judged as a business on how well you are dealing with diversity, what you know , the makeup is of what you know, the makeup is of your workforce. Just as you are your workforce. Just as you are being judged on your environmental commitments. Esg, environmental commitments. Esg, which is the overarching thing, you know, three letters, environment, social and governance. You know, there is governance. You know, there is a really good reason for having paying really good reason for having paying proper attention