From information security and protecting the environment, to anti-corruption and upholding human rights, we want our suppliers to join us in working as sustainably and ethically as we can.
Every year, we spend more than £10bn with around 20,000 directly-contracted suppliers around the world. Our ambition is to be responsible and sustainable for our customers and the communities we operate in. We cannot achieve this alone, therefore it is important that we collaborate and partner with our suppliers to make a positive business difference over the long term.
We periodically update our Supplier Principles to reflect changes in laws and regulations, and to incorporate and progress issues that are important to us. In 2022 we updated our Supplier Principles to expand our expectations in relation to human rights and sustainability.
Click on the document at the bottom of this page to hear from our Chief Executive, Charles Woodburn, and to read our 'Supplier Principles - Guidance for Responsible Business'.
Supplier due diligence
Risk-based due diligence is undertaken for all third parties with whom we engage, whether supplier, adviser, potential joint venture partner, acquisition opportunity or other third party. Where required, this may include establishing the identity of the third party in terms of beneficial ownership and gathering of sufficient information to assess relevant bribery and corruption risks. At the contracting stage we stipulate our expectation that suppliers embrace our standards on ethical behaviour, including those set out in our Supplier Principles.
Once a supplier has been approved and a contract has been signed, we continue to actively manage and monitor that supplier throughout the life of their contract. This includes managing any significant changes in our relationship with the supplier as well as undertaking ongoing risk-based due diligence. Throughout our relationship with our suppliers, we raise awareness of and engage them in our Supplier Principles.
Supplier assurance
During 2022, we revised and launched our new Supplier Principles – Guidance for Responsible Business, to ensure that they better align with the Company’s sustainability ambition and to provide clearer expectations in relation to human rights and modern slavery. We will continue to communicate and raise awareness of these Principles during 2023. We also engaged our UK supply chain on modern slavery, raising awareness of the importance of conducting business responsibly and maintaining and improving systems and processes that reduce the risk of slavery and human trafficking. We also highlighted resources available and promoted our Ethics Helpline as a way to seek advice and report concerns. We also continued supply chain assurance activity to assess adoption of our Supplier Principles. This activity supports us in identifying and mitigating risks across our supply chain. Our assessments covered 30% of global spend. This activity will continue in 2023.
