View our previous Slavery and Human Trafficking Statements
MODERN SLAVERY ACT STATEMENT
This statement sets out the steps that Hovis Limited and its subsidiary, Rank Hovis Milling Limited have taken and are continuing to take to ensure that modern slavery is not taking place within their business or supply chain.
We are committed to acting ethically and with integrity and have implemented policies and procedures to safeguard against slavery, servitude, human trafficking and forced labour, all of which are acts of modern slavery, occurring within both our business and supply chain.
OUR BUSINESS AND SUPPLY CHAINS
Hovis is a baking and flour milling business jointly owned by The Gores Group (51%) and Premier Foods PLC (49%). Headquartered in High Wycombe we employ around 3,500 employees. We have 8 bakery sites in England, Scotland and Ireland, producing bread and bread products, 4 flour mills, 1 wheat malting and 1 ingredients mixing facility in England and Scotland and 3 regional distribution centres.
We procure ingredients and raw materials mainly from the UK and the EU, and engage a small number of temporary labour at sites, both directly and via labour agencies, mainly in our logistics function. We outsource other services, such as cleaning and catering to third party providers.
OUR POLICIES ON SLAVERY AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING
We operate a number of internal policies to ensure that we are conducting business in an ethical and transparent manner. These include:
- Anti-slavery Policy: This policy reflects our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business relationships and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure slavery and human trafficking is not taking place anywhere in our supply chain or business. The policy also explains how employees can identify any instances of modern slavery and where they can go for help.
- Recruitment Policy: We operate a robust recruitment policy, including conducting eligibility to work in the UK checks for all employees to safeguard against human trafficking or individuals being forced to work against their will.
- Whistleblowing "Speaking-Up" Policy: This policy lets all employees know that they can raise concerns about how colleagues are being treated, or practices within our business or supply chain, without fear of reprisals.
- Code of Conduct: This code explains the manner in which we behave as an organisation and how we expect our employees and suppliers to act.
DUE DILIGENCE PROCESSES FOR SLAVERY AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING
As part of our initiative to identify and mitigate risk we conduct, on an on-going basis, an audit of our suppliers and have subsequently implemented processes to identify, assess and monitor potential risk areas in our supply chain. The vast majority of Hovis' suppliers are based in the UK and therefore we do not consider that we generally operate in high risk locations, however, to further mitigate the risk of labour exploitation throughout the supply chain, we have in place systems to:
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Identify and assess potential risk areas in our supply chains.
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Mitigate the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in our supply chains.
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Monitor potential risk areas in our supply chains.
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Protect whistleblowers.
In addition to the above, we have included provisions in our standard terms and conditions of purchase that require our suppliers to confirm to us that they have taken steps to eradicate modern slavery within their business.
Hovis is a member of SEDEX (the Supplier Ethical Trading Data Exchange), a not for profit membership organisation dedicated to driving improvements in ethical and responsible business practices in global supply chains. We require all ingredients and packaging suppliers to become members of this organisation.
This statement will be reviewed each financial year and published on our website.
Nish Kankiwala
Director and CEO of Hovis Holdings Limited
Date: 19/04/2018
