This Statement, pursuant to section 54 of the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015, sets out the steps that Lonrho is taking to ensure that slavery and human trafficking are not present in any part of our Group businesses, nor in our supply chains. We are committed to improving our practices to combat slavery and human trafficking. This is our fifth annual statement under the legislation.
Slavery and human trafficking are abuses of a person’s fundamental freedoms and rights. We are wholly opposed to such abuses in our direct operations, our indirect operations and our supply chains.
We are not complacent as to the risks of slavery and human trafficking and we are committed to the continual improvement of our policies, standards, practices and programmes with respect to combatting it effectively.
Lonrho currently has an operational presence in 16 countries, primarily in East and Southern Africa. As at June 2020, our headcount was 1088 employees across those countries (which includes our secondary head office in London).
Our operations take place in those countries through a network of businesses under the core investment themes of Food & Beverage Processing & Distribution, Market Expansion Services and Infrastructure. The portfolio companies operate in the following sectors:
Further information on our structure and businesses, including the countries in which we operate, is available at www.lonrho.com
Suppliers.
Our supply chains vary across those businesses and locations, but we are committed to applying common levels of scrutiny and verification across all Group businesses to ensure that proper controls and standards are in place. Our suppliers include suppliers of machinery, equipment and perishable fish products, sub-contractors, and providers of various services. Each of the Group's subsidiaries are responsible for undertaking appropriate due diligence on their respective suppliers and ensuring that they only do business with suppliers who meet the Group's ethical standards.
Our Group-wide policy concerning slavery and human trafficking is covered in our five core company values:
These values are set out in our Employee Handbook for all staff, with the aim of providing a platform for sustainable development across the Group, and the communities of which we are a part.
As part of our commitment to combating modern slavery, we have implemented a Modern Slavery Policy and maintain a Speak Up Policy for reporting any concerns.
In addition to existing compliance procedures and the standards set out in the Employee Handbook at Group level, staff are kept up to date on business and corporate matters through face to face meetings, newsletters (including messages by email from individual Board members), and through a Group-wide intranet. That includes the dissemination of information regarding the Board’s commitment to adhering to these principles.
We recognize the need for specific additional steps to assess risks in this area, including in our supply chains, and have therefore set up internal systems to ensure that each component business of the Group operates to these collective standards. That included issuing a further questionnaire in 2019 to our businesses to ensure awareness of the issues including:
Through this approach we continue to monitor our awareness of risk both in our own businesses and related areas. We consider that the greatest risks are in our supply chains, where relevant to particular businesses – but will continue to monitor and assess all our businesses in this regard.
We will also ensure that risks and compliance in this area are fully factored into future investment decisions, up to Board level.
Our HR processes give us the ability to track issues which may arise, especially through our staff assessment system and speak out procedures. We keep this under active scrutiny.
Our Chief Legal Officer, has the lead on maintaining and developing staff awareness and procedures in this area, reporting to the Board. We ensure that staff compliance training, including at induction, fully covers this area.
This Statement was approved by the Lonrho Board on 26th June 2020.
