Introduction
Modern slavery is a criminal offence under the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015. Modern slavery is a crime and violation of fundamental human rights. It takes various forms including slavery, forced, compulsory or bonded labour, human trafficking, servitude and child labour. But it is not limited to just these practices, all of which deprive one person of their liberty by another person in order to exploit them for commercial or personal gain.
This statement sets out Savencia F&D UK Ltd actions to understand all potential modern slavery risks related to its business and to put in place steps that are aimed at ensuring that there is no slavery or human trafficking in its own business and its supply chains.
This statement relates to actions and activities during the financial year 01 April 2019 to 31 March 2020 and has been approved by the Management Committee Members, who will review it and update it annually.
As part of the international group Savencia, Savencia F&D UK also commits to its culture and values. Since 2003, Savencia is a signatory to the UN’s Global Compact scheme, and therefore committed to upholding to its ten fundamental principles in the areas of Human Rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption.
Our business strategies, practices, policies and ways of working are governed by our vision, values and action principles:
▪ Our vision: “Leading the way to better food”
▪ Our values: Tolerance, Courage, Honesty, Loyalty
▪ Our actions principles: Subsidiarity, Collegiality, Autonomy
Our business, structure and supply chains
Savencia Fromage & Dairy UK is a subsidiary of Savencia Group. It employs around 85 permanent people based in two locations:
▪ The Ham, BA13 4HA, Westbury
▪ Unit 8/9 Castle Business Village, 36 Station Road, Hampton, TW12 2BX
The company operates in the maturation, cutting, handling, packing, storage, picking and despatching of English and Continental cheese for the UK market.
The activities considered to be high risk for slavery of human trafficking in Savencia F&D business are:
▪ External suppliers: suppliers used within the supply chain are SEDEX1 approved, from countries regulated by strong employment laws. In addition, from 1st August 2019, Savencia F&D UK requests from its suppliers a statement of assurance that all products supplied to the Company have a supply chain which meets the ETI Initiative for Global Trade
▪ Labour: right to work in the UK of any permanent staff is verified and temporary labour is only supplied by Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) accredited and regularly audited companies
Our policies
The organisation operates the following policies that describe its approach to the identification of modern slavery risks and steps to be taken to prevent slavery and human trafficking in its operations:
▪ Grievance Procedure
▪ Health & Safety policy
▪ Anti-Bribery and Corruption Policy
▪ Whistleblowing Policy
▪ Ethical trading policy
▪ Equal opportunities policy
▪ Employee code of conduct (Harassment, Sexual Harassment and Bullying policies)
Due diligence processes
The organisation undertakes due diligence when considering taking on new suppliers, and regularly reviews its existing suppliers. The organisation's due diligence and reviews include:
▪ Mapping the supply chain to assess specific products or geographical risks
▪ Evaluating the modern slavery and human trafficking risks of each new supplier
▪ Reviewing on a regular basis all aspects of the supply chain
Steps to assess and manage risks
Over the course of the next financial year, we will continue to reinforce our procedures to help us identify, prevent and mitigate any risks of modern slavery or human trafficking in relation to new and existing suppliers.
Training
The Management Committee Members are trained on “Tackling Hidden Labour Exploitation” to enable them to have the understanding and be able to recognise Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking. It covers the following:
▪ How to assess the risk of slavery and human trafficking
▪ How to identify the signs of slavery and human trafficking
▪ What initial steps should be taken if slavery or human trafficking is suspected
▪ How to escalate potential slavery or human trafficking issues
▪ What steps the organisation should take if suppliers or contractors do not implement
anti-slavery policies in high-risk scenarios
Our effectiveness in eliminating modern slavery
We submit to independent third party and Ethical Trade audits, to conduct external reviews to bring insight on ways to tackle slavery and human trafficking.