MODERN SLAVERY
Modern slavery is a crime and a gross violation of fundamental human rights and as such is not only illegal but also is not compatible with our company values. It takes various forms, such as slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour and human trafficking, all of which have in common the deprivation of a person’s liberty by another in order to exploit them for personal or commercial gain.
We have a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery and are committed to ensuring that we act ethically and with integrity in all our business dealings and relationships. In order to achieve this we need to implement and enforce effective systems and controls within the business to ensure modern slavery is not taking place anywhere in the business or in any of our supply chains.
We are also committed to ensuring transparency through the business and in our approach to tackling modern slavery throughout our supply chains, consistent with the disclosure obligations under the Modern Slavery Act 2015. We expect the same high standards from all of our team members, officers, contractors, suppliers, agents, business partners and any other person contracted by us or on our behalf. We also expect that no one will use forced, compulsory or trafficked labour, and that no one is held in slavery or servitude, whether adults or children, and we expect that our suppliers will hold their own suppliers to the same high standards.
COMPANY STRUCTURE
We are a manufacturer of beer and a provider of pub, restaurant and accommodation facilities. We have our head office in the UK and all trading outlets are in the UK.
The group has an annual turnover in excess of £36m.
Our principal activities consist of the brewing and packaging of beer and the ownership and management of public houses and hotels.
DUE DILIGENCE PROCESSES FOR SLAVERY AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING
As part of our initiative to identify and mitigate risk: – the geographical scope of our licenced premises are limited to ensure optimum supervision of the use of our properties; long standing relationships are built with local suppliers and business partners which whom we make clear our expectations of business behaviour; our preferred point of contact with national or international supply chains is with a UK company or branch and we expect these entities to address anti-slavery and human trafficking issues.
We have in place systems to encourage the reporting of concerns and the protection of whistle blowers.
SUPPLY CHAINS
Our supply chains include the sourcing of raw materials principally related to the provision of food and drink, some of which are from overseas.
SUPPLIER ADHERENCE TO OUR VALUES
We have a zero tolerance to slavery and human trafficking. We expect those in our supply chain and other contractors or agents to comply with our values.
The Directors are responsible for compliance in their respective teams and for their team’s supplier relationships.
OUR EFFECTIVENESS IN COMBATING SLAVERY AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING
6.1 We use the following methods to measure how effective we have been to ensure that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in any part of our business or supply chains:
Public house visits by Business Development Partners and Regional Managers;
Monitoring of recruitment and payroll systems within the business; and
Open communication with Suppliers regarding our values and expectations.
This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our group’s slavery and human trafficking statement for the current financial year.
Matt Kearsey
Managing Director
Hall & Woodhouse Limited