Corporate and Social Responsibility Policy

PURPOSE

The aim of this policy is to highlight three key areas of corporate and social responsibility that are important to our company:

  1. Working with our neighbours in ways which result in a positive effect on our local communities.
  2. Ensuring a safe workplace where staff are treated fairly, are properly trained and deployed.
  3. Striving to work with others in our marketplace that share these same aims.
  4. Striving to buy from suppliers that share these same aims

We take seriously all feedback that we receive from our stakeholders and, where possible, maintain open dialogue to ensure that we fulfill the requirements outlined within this policy. We have a Whistle Blowing Policy (policy reference: SBS 113 which is also available at http://sourcebioscience.com/Policies/whistleblowing.aspx) which operates to allow the safe disclosure of any matter to the Directors of the company whilst ensuring the fair treatment of the person (employee or otherwise) making the disclosure. We have an Anti-bribery and Corruption Policy which clearly communicates how we conduct business, and which directly applies to all of our employees, subcontractors and other stakeholders in our business.

We are open, straightforward and sincere in communicating our strategies, targets, performance and governance to all of our stakeholders in relation our continual commitment to sustainable development. This policy will be communicated to our stakeholders and published on our website.

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) is responsible for the implementation of this policy and will make appropriate resources available to support the realisation of our corporate responsibilities. The responsibility for our performance in accordance with the objectives set out in this policy requires contribution from all employees throughout the company.

SCOPE

This policy applies to all employees of the Source BioScience group and all of the companies within the Group. Employees must observe the highest standards of integrity and must act with care, diligence and fairness in all our business activities.

We recognize that we must integrate our business values and operations to meet the expectations of our customers, employees, regulators, investors, suppliers, the community and the environment. It is our expectation that our suppliers, sub-contractors and other business partners hold the same values as we do and meet at least the same standards.

POLICY AND PROCEDURE

1. The Community Around Us

Our standing within the local community is important to us and we encourage dialogue with local communities for our mutual benefit. We advertise all relevant jobs locally and work to maintain good relationships with local communities through the following fundamental activities:

  • We will register and resolve complaints from the community in a prompt and attentive manner.
  • We shall support and encourage our employees to help local community organisations and activities in our region including taking part in charitable events.
  • Wherever possible we look to support local businesses by using them for our equipment servicing, building projects etc.
  • The company has where appropriate taken on students from Universities all over the UK for up to 1 year placements and from local schools giving children work experience.
  • The company holds open days where our neighbours and other interested parties have the opportunity to visit our premises and can see what we do.

2. The Workplace

The well-being of our employees and other stakeholders is very important to us whilst in our workplace. We are committed to the continual improvement of labour standards and facilities within our company. The most important factor is that our employees and other stakeholder are safe whilst under our care, much of this is detailed in our Health and safety policy. In addition:

  • We provide, and will strive to maintain, a clean and healthy working environment and we have policies in place to ensure this. We ensure that our employees working conditions suit the job they are doing and specifically they are properly resourced with the equipment and local environment (eg, lighting and temperature) that they need.
  • We have a Dignity at Work Policy which operates to provide safeguards to ensure that all employees are treated with respect and without discrimination (sexual, physical or mental harassment or bullying of any kind).
  • We operate an equal opportunities policy at all times.
  • We offer our employees clear and fair terms of employment.
  • We offer our employees relevant training and career development opportunities as they arise within the workplace in order to enable the continual development of the employee within the company.
  • We maintain a clear and fair employee remuneration and bonus policy and maintain a well defined appraisal scheme.
  • We will review employee working hours quarterly as recorded by door swipe in/out to ensure that no employees are inadvertently working outside of the European Working Time Regulations 1998
    • Audit quarterly door entry swipe in/out records and calculate: time on premises and weekend working hours
    • Highlight and discuss exceptional working time records with staff members if they occur
    • We will include and record the discussion of working hours in employee 6 monthly appraisals / review with line managers.
  • Notwithstanding any of the above, we fairly apply at least the minimum standards in all aspects of employment as defined by current UK employment law.

3. The Marketplace

We want to conduct business with companies and people that hold similar values in corporate and social responsibility to ourselves (some of this is detailed in our Purchasing Policy). This does not mean that the people we work for or with, need to have a written policy although we would encourage this. It is important to us and to all stakeholders that our business is sustainable and dependable with a secure future. To achieve this, we shall:

  • register and resolve customer, supplier and contractor complaints in accordance with our written procedures;
  • ensure a high level of business performance while minimizing and effectively managing risk;
  • uphold the values of honesty, partnership and fairness in our relationships with stakeholders;
  • clearly set out the agreed terms, conditions and the basis of our relationship within our contracts;
  • publish our terms and conditions on our websites;
  • always operate in ways that safeguard against unfair business practices;
  • encourage our suppliers and contractors to adopt responsible business policies and practices for our mutual benefit; and
  • hold certifications and accreditations from various external bodies where our performance and standards are regularly audited. We make the outcome from such audits available to our customers on demand and allow customers to audit our processes and premises by appointment.

4. Procurement

We want to buy goods from companies that share our standards and commitment to Corporate and Social Responsibility:

  • All our suppliers will receive a copy of this policy;
  • We will audit our suppliers by questionnaire regularly to ensure minimal compliance;
  • We will audit new suppliers by questionnaire within one month of their first use;
  • Scores for each supplier will be calculated based on questionnaire returns and our own internal data:
    • Company
      • Copy of most recent published accounts available on demand
      • H&S incident/ accident statistics current/ previous year
      • Environmental policy available on demand
      • Membership of any known accredited bodies
      • Bribery & anti-corruption policies available on demand
      • Management-/organisation chart available on demand
      • Disaster recovery plan/ risk assessment to supply chain available on demand
      • Acceptance of a commitment to the continuous improvement of labour standards
      • Corporate and Social Responsibility policy available on demand
    • Service
      • Communication/Help- Finance
      • Communication/Help- Procurement
      • Communication/Help- End User
      • Handling of problems
      • Response time to problems
      • Technical assistance
    • Products/our Risk
      • Quality of product - (right first time)
      • Delivery - on time
      • £ our spend
      • No of products supplied and/or product uniqueness
      • Recycling service available
      • Packaging- amount per item
      • Packaging-  recycled material used
    • Sales
      • Product knowledge
      • Communication/help-Sales
      • Sale visits
  • Suppliers not replying to questionnaire will be evaluated for risk based upon our own reasonable assessment of the above criteria.
  • Suppliers engaging with the process will be provided with their scores and the average scores for all our suppliers thereby highlighting room for improvement.

5.  Review and continual improvement

 

  • This Policy document will be formally reviewed at least every two years (as set in iPassport). Improvements to this policy can be made at any time.
  • Actions, disclosures and discoveries as a result of this policy will be formally reviewed annually at the company Annual Management Review which is formally minuted and copies of the minutes stored in the company records.
  • The company will expect continual improvement in supplier questionnaire scores. Our expectation levels being set following first issue of the questionnaire. The company will expect a year on year improvement in the average score across all suppliers.

    • Ver 2.1