Q4 2016/17

Report Date

July 2017

Evaluation report (1^st June 2017)

Progress

In terms of objectives set, this project has helped increase our knowledge as an institution of modern slavery risks and ways to mitigate them, through the establishment of a Modern Slavery Working Group which has brought together a wide range of internal stakeholders. The first Modern Slavery Statement was produced and signed off for publication by relevant committees and the Principal by December 2016 and was published on the website immediately. However, there were delays to having a link on the front page of the website, with the link eventually being added in May 2017.

An action plan for further steps was included in the first statement, covering different aspects of University activity, and further relevant stakeholders were engaged. Implementation is ongoing – with progress being reported to the Modern Slavery Working Group. Work has begun in May 2017 to draft the second statement, to be reviewed at a Working Group meeting in August.

In addition to the statement, a research report on modern slavery implications for universities was produced and shared with the sector, and a further report looking at our own food and construction suppliers’ modern slavery statements was produced and shared internally, feeding into supplier engagement on this issue.

A panel event was held during Fairtrade Fortnight about human rights abuses in supply chains, with good turnout and discussion.

The success criteria mentioned above have been fully met, but there is always more work to do to continue to raise awareness, improve processes and encourage further research and teaching on this important issue.

Learning

• A large amount of interest and participation from senior stakeholders at first can peter off – when the issue is no longer new/is seen to be being managed. There has been a reduction in number of people attending Working Group meetings over time.
• It can be difficult to sustain time commitment/interest of student volunteers, even if they seemed very committed at the start. We offered a responsive volunteering opportunity to 2 students who got in touch, but only a limited amount of volunteering has taken place (engaging with EUSA and student society events – still useful as contributing to raising awareness). It is possible that this will always be a risk, even if volunteering is more formalised. Could consider some more formal volunteering opportunities regarding modern slavery in future.

Future plans

• Modify the Modern Slavery Statement structure to have a static section that describes policies, procedures and commitments, and a reporting section for actions taken/progress made that will be updated each year, including KPIs to report on.
• Need to ensure proposed KPIs on next statement can be reported on – working with procurement. E.g. get Sustain working; terms and conditions; monitor supplier engagement
• Work to encourage modern slavery work in courses e.g. potential link between Wikirate and the Law School
• Propose relevant dissertation topics (via Living Lab database)
• Propose more formal volunteering opportunities related to human rights abuses in supply chains
• Find an easier way to keep track of relevant research and teaching taking place
• Work with others to produce suitable modern slavery training for the sector/different groups??
• Video on SRS in supply chains
• Supplier engagement events – food and construction
• Bidding for funding for student supply chain field research with NUS