In collaboration with Buying Force, we ensure high levels of compliance with sustainability standards. Although we have less control over our suppliers’ practices, we still expect business partners to conform to the same high standards, and will not purchase goods or services from companies who do not meet these standards.

Business practices such as worker exploitation, human rights abuses and excessive polluting are unacceptable. By effectively screening potential suppliers, and building solid relationships with existing partners, we can play a significant role in reducing irresponsible business practices across a number of industries.

We acknowledge that this is one area of our sustainability strategy that currently remains undeveloped but, with the formulation of a ‘Responsible Procurement Strategy’, we hope to redress this balance.

We have identified a number of key supplier impacts (listed alphabetically below) where we have active management programmes in place and also (in some cases) against which we are currently measuring performance (in bold). These have been arrived at through internal dialogue and external advice:

• Fair Treatment of Suppliers
• Health, Safety & Environment