Annual report and accounts 2023 - Flipbook - Page 82
A.G. BARR p.l.c. Annual Report and Accounts 2023
Corporate Governance Report continued
Key Stakeholder
Form of Engagement
How This Stakeholder Group Influenced Board/Committee Discussions and Decisions
Government
We engage with governments and political bodies in an open
and constructive manner on issues which affect our business,
both directly and through relevant trade associations such as
the British Soft Drinks Association (“BSDA”).
Updates on engagement with UK and devolved governments and political bodies were
provided to the Board by the Chief Executive throughout the year and influenced its
discussions. This engagement also shaped internal activity in relation to these areas
during the year.
During the year much of our government engagement
continued to be related to the introduction of a DRS in Scotland
and has been carried out in conjunction with the BSDA and
Circularity Scotland Limited. We have taken steps to
communicate our position on key implementation matters to
ensure our views were understood and where possible taken
into account in decision-making.
Our insights and understanding from engagement with UK and devolved governments
and political bodies during the year informed the Board’s discussions and decisions
regarding the annual budgeting and long-term strategic planning processes for the
Group.
Reviews of the regulatory framework under which the Group operates are presented
to the Board on a regular basis and inform the Board’s discussions and decisions
regarding capital expenditure and areas of business development.
The Board discussed and supported our internal project planning for the introduction
of a DRS in Scotland and progress against our net-zero plans – this work was informed
by our engagement with the Scottish government during the year.
Corporate culture and reputation
The Board and the Executive Committee have a critical
role in creating and embedding the right corporate
culture for the business. The Board aims to maintain
the Company’s reputation for the highest standards
of business conduct and to create a culture that is
responsible, diverse and inclusive. The Company’s
workforce is critical to its future success. The
Company’s focus on employee engagement will
continue in order to create a culture that enables and
supports a highly motivated and diverse workforce,
to ensure that its workforce do the right thing for its
stakeholders and deliver long-term sustainable success
for the business. During the early part of the year
activities continued in response to the ongoing
Covid-19 pandemic to ensure that this culture was
maintained, as described in the table above.
The Board regularly assesses and monitors the
Company’s culture and, where appropriate, seeks
assurance from management that it has taken
corrective action to ensure that policy, practices and
behaviour throughout the business are aligned with the
Company’s purpose, values and strategy. The Board
achieves this primarily through reviewing feedback from
employees from the annual employee engagement
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survey “Your Voice Matters”, and ensuring that
appropriate actions are taken to address the findings
thereof. The results of the employee engagement
survey undertaken during the year showed a high
employee response rate and overall employee
engagement score. The Board were supportive of the
local action planning activities which would take place
in response to the results of the survey. The Board also
receives regular updates on workforce engagement
from the Board’s designated non-executive director
which helps it to assess and monitor the Company’s
culture. The Board regularly reviews certain health and
safety KPIs, including the number of lost time accidents
during the year and performance against the Group’s
lost time accident incident rate target. During the year,
the Board reviewed the overall health and safety
performance of the Group, including the results from
the latest Keil Centre health and safety culture maturity
assessments, which showed improvements in the
health and safety culture across Supply Chain
compared to three years ago; the Board were
supportive of the local action planning activities which
would take place in response to the results of the
survey. The Board also noted the positive results from
an internal health and safety culture survey completed
by the Commercial and Central functions during the
year. The Board regularly reviews employee turnover
and absence data, and were supportive of an action
plan presented in August to engage employees and
reduce turnover. The Board also assesses and monitors
the Company’s culture through its annual review of
the Group’s Speaking Up policy, procedures and any
concerns raised; during the year the Board were
satisfied that the procedures in place were working
effectively and reapproved the Company’s Speaking Up
policy. Further information on the Company’s culture
and workforce engagement is included in the table
above and in the Directors’ Report on pages 122 to 127
and in the Strategic Report on pages 1 to 69.
Community and environment
Information regarding the impact of the Company’s
operations on the community and the environment is
included in the Responsibility Report on pages 30 to 55.
Acting fairly as between members of the Company
The Board recognises its legal and regulatory duties to
act fairly as between members of the Company and
has put appropriate structures and processes in place to
ensure it complies with all relevant legal requirements,
for example in relation to the disclosure of inside
information to shareholders.
