Andy Briscoe
Indesser Independent Chair and Board Sponsor of Corporate Social Responsibility
"I am proud to sponsor Indesser’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy, policy and activity. CSR, and the Social Value it delivers, are core to what we do. Not only is it the right thing to do, but there are important expectations of suppliers to the public sector to deliver Social Value. We passionately believe that focusing on economic, social and environmental wellbeing in our work creates direct benefits for our business, the communities and regions we work in, our people, and our suppliers.
As part of our commitment to CSR and Social Value we wanted to make our CSR policy available to view by our customers, stakeholders and suppliers. The Indesser Board is committed to this activity and we have dedicated resources to it, including appointing a CSR committee to coordinate our efforts. The committee meets monthly to drive forward our activity and reports progress and outcomes to the Board every quarter.
We recognise that Indesser is a relatively small business, directly employing around 20 people. As a result, our direct social impact can only go so far. However, our supply chain is significant in size, is geographically spread across the UK, and has the power to deliver greater impact in the communities in which we work. So a key focus of our CSR activity is collaboration with our partners to amplify our social impact.
It is of course impossible to ignore the impact that COVID-19 has had on our daily lives – on running businesses, on our families, and on the communities we live in. Now more than ever the importance of organisations playing an active role in the communities that they serve is paramount.
I look forward to sharing our progress with you and the social impact that we are delivering.’
Indesser's Corporate Social Responsibility Policy - updated Sep 2020
Purpose
This information below describes Indesser’s policy relating to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This policy will be regularly reviewed and made available to all interested parties.
The development and implementation of this policy is the responsibility of Indesser’s CSR Committee, led by the Director of Consumer Affairs, Richard Haymes, and chaired by Non-Executive Director, Andy Briscoe.
All Indesser colleagues are required to comply with the policy requirements and share responsibility for implementing it.
Indesser will publish an annual social value report that describes our CSR activities and the impact delivered.
At Indesser, we believe that a commitment to the principles of CSR not only makes good business sense but also complements our core business strategy and corporate values.
Our CSR policy is based on the following principles:
- To minimise the impact and maximise the benefits that our work has on the environment and on the people around us.
- To integrate our CSR considerations into all our business decisions.
- To comply with, and exceed where practicable, all applicable legislation, regulations and codes of practice.
- To review, annually report, and to continually strive to improve our CSR performance.
In developing our CSR policy for the first time we aim to deliver gradual but continuous improvements in our performance every year. As a result, our approach continues to evolve as we learn lessons along the way.
To help define our policy we have divided it into three key areas:
- Community: We recognise that we play an important role in our local communities and we aim to make the communities in which we operate better places. We will encourage and empower our colleagues to get involved with their local communities and use their skills and Indesser’s resources to help create shared value.
- People: We want all Indesser colleagues to enjoy their work and have opportunities to delight our customers. We will actively look for ways to promote and increase the diversity of our workforce and facilitate greater professional and personal opportunities for more people.
- Environmental Management: we want to manage the environmental impact of our business in a responsible and ethical manner. We will do this through identifying all significant environmental impacts and putting processes into place to prevent, reduce and mitigate them. This also makes good business sense.
Across these three areas, we are committed to delivering meaningful improvements through partnerships with other like-minded organisations and internal efforts driven by our colleagues and supply chain. These improvements will span initiatives that promote physical and mental wellbeing, improve social mobility, and help the lives of vulnerable individuals, with a particular focus on financial vulnerability. Alongside these pillars, we will also drive to reduce our environmental impact through leveraging our supply chain, customers, and other stakeholders, to help deliver far greater positive impact than the Indesser business can do alone.
Resource commitment
Indesser is committed to providing the required resource and prioritisation of activity to deliver our CSR activity. Indesser team members delivering this work have been empowered to prioritise this activity, when needed.
A minimum level of resource has been committed:
- Each member of the Indesser team has two days a year of paid leave available for volunteering.
- A CSR committee will meet for two hours each month to progress plans.
- The Indesser management team will ratify policy and activity.
- An Indesser NED will sponsor this activity.
- The publication of an annual social value report that describes the CSR activities and the impact delivered across the three areas described above.