Assurance

In order to demonstrate to our stakeholders that we are a sustainable and well-managed company – and proactive in terms of addressing the social and environmental issues that matter to them – we are committed to subjecting relevant aspects of our corporate responsibility programme to processes of independent audit and assurance.

We believe that seeking independent audit and assurance of our CR programme reassures stakeholders, as well as our board, that our CR management systems, processes and procedures are well managed and in accordance with legislation and best practice. They also provide reassurance that our report and any data we disclose are accurate, complete and material.

CR reporting

The commentary and data contained within our annual CR reports is independently assured by Corporate Citizenship, a specialist management consultancy advising corporations that seek to improve their economic, social and environmental performance around the world. In forming an opinion and making comments, Corporate Citizenship has regard to:

  • The principles of materiality, completeness and responsiveness which underpin the international assurance standard AA1000. Visit the Accountability web site for more information
  • The reporting guidance for content and principles for defining quality contained in the Global Reporting Initiative’s G3 sustainability reporting guidelines. Visit the Global Reporting Initiative web site to find out more about the GRI guidelines

To read the full assurance statement

External assurance review

Our community involvement programme has been subject to an external assurance review since 2006. This process assesses our application of the London Benchmarking Group (LBG) model and the effectiveness of the implementation of our community strategy. The LBG model is used as the basis for collecting and reporting our community involvement data. This work is also undertaken by Corporate Citizenship.

Our environmental management system is also audited against the requirements of the international environmental standard ISO 14001. This audit work has been carried out by the consultancy firm SEQM since 2006.