Managing corporate responsibility

The board reviews overall corporate responsibility performance annually and the chairman receives a quarterly progress report. Individual issues are subject to board discussion throughout the year. Our corporate responsibility steering group is chaired by the deputy group chief executive and comprises senior executives from all business divisions and relevant group functions. The steering group meets quarterly to recommend strategy and provide direction.

We have adopted the European Foundation of Quality Management’s Corporate Responsibility Framework to help us align corporate responsibility with business strategy and also with individual balanced scorecard priorities. As part of the process we have a network of approximately 60 representatives across all business divisions, through whom we conduct an annual self assessment of our performance with independent oversight and assurance. This allows us to identify strengths and areas for improvement and to prioritise actions and objectives. It also provides a benchmark against which we can compare our performance both internally and externally.

The board is satisfied that the systems in place to manage corporate responsibility risks are effective and that the relevant risks have been assessed during 2007 and managed in compliance with relevant policies and procedures.

Our approach to corporate responsibility focuses on five areas; our people, our customers, our suppliers, our community and the environment.