Supply chain management

We believe sustainability is now a central factor in supply chain management and have actively engaged a number of key suppliers in the last year on such subjects as compliance with labour laws, fair trade, sustainable fishing, forest stewardship, quality and sustainability of recycled products, organic produce and food miles (including conducting site visits).

This is an ongoing process as we work towards verifying our supply chain by developing questionnaires for suppliers and a toolkit for substantiating their claims.

We recognise that this review is in its early stages. Given our geographical spread and the number of local suppliers involved, which is to be encouraged, it will be a challenge to develop and implement firm-wide supply chain policies. However, this is a project that we will press forward with in 2008.

We are also in the process of implementing an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) environmental programme for each office. We anticipate that this will first be piloted in London.