The Group is determined that it should be recognised as a leader in responsible business worldwide, and we continue to strive for ways to improve our business and its reputation.
Our approach
Delivery of our corporate responsibility agenda is now firmly embedded as a Group strategic objective within the Group’s strategy. This reflects the increased emphasis and importance placed on ensuring that the Group’s commitment to total performance includes every aspect of business, not only financial and programme performance, but also business conduct and the corporate responsibility agenda. This is reflected in the new organisation structure.
The Group’s corporate responsibility agenda and activity have matured considerably over recent years. To continue to deliver on the Group’s commitment to achieving a leadership position in responsible business worldwide will require a sustained and focused effort particularly in embedding the necessary behaviours and an inclusive culture across all of our businesses. A key part of this will be delivering on the recommendations of the Woolf Committee to ensure high standards of business conduct.
Key to the delivery of our strategy are leadership and role model behaviours at the most senior level. Our 2008 objectives on ethics, safety and diversity required both a demonstration of leadership, as well as measures of progress towards our stated goals. To confirm the importance of these objectives, 12% of the available executive bonus allocation was set against performance on safety and ethics objectives.
We continue to develop other aspects of our corporate responsibility agenda, in particular environment and sustainability.
Raj Rajagopal
Managing Director,
Corporate Responsibility
“Ethics is fundamental to our reputation”
Governance of corporate responsibility
Our objectives are delivered through our business operations and managed through the executive committee. The corporate responsibility committee evolved its role in 2008 to provide independent oversight, advice and strategic direction on social, ethical and environmental issues that face the Group. The Committee’s report on its 2008 activity can be found in the Corporate Governance section.
During 2008, the committee undertook a number of activities
which included:
- oversight of health and safety performance;
- review and oversight of the development of the
Global code of conduct;
- ongoing review of performance against the Group’s objectives; and
- site visit to our submarine solutions site in Barrow-in-Furness to review and understand how corporate responsibility has been embedded within the business.