Leadership for corporate responsibility
Our strategic corporate responsibility group (CRG) is made up of senior representatives from within the Company and is chaired by David Higgins.
Patrick Butcher (Group Finance Director) and Catherine Doran (Director, Corporate Development) both joined our CRG in March 2010.
The group met five times in 2009/10, and has included a site visit to the London 2012 Olympics to share best practice on sustainability, and regular agenda items on equality and diversity, environmental strategy, the Carbon Reduction Commitment, and the Business in the Community Corporate Responsibility Index.
In February 2010, the terms of reference and remit of the group were reviewed and approved by our Executive Committee.
The remit of CRG includes developing:
- direction on the policy, strategy and objectives necessary to deliver our sustainability goals across economic, social and environmental areas
- measurable targets for sustainability and the specific activities and initiatives to deliver these
- a monitoring system for the progress and success of these activities.
Responsibility in action
Initiatives in 2009/10 have included an audit of the sustainability practices of our major infrastructure projects, environmental briefings for our media and communications specialists, and the creation of a sustainability steering group for our Crossrail programme.
Throughout the year we have responded to a number of Government and third party consultations relating to corporate responsibility issues including carbon trading, accessibility, environmental permits and noise. We have also continued to participate in the cross-industry Sustainable Rail Programme, facilitated by the Rail Safety and Standards Board.
In 2010 we issued a new Code of Business Ethics which replaces our existing business conduct policy. The code applies to all of our activities and sets out the minimum standards expected from all
employees and Directors in their dealings with our internal and external customers.
Talking about corporate responsibility
Corporate responsibility and sustainability have featured regularly
in our internal communications during 2009/10, covering topics such as
sustainable procurement, community safety, and charitable giving.
Measurement and monitoring
Our Company-wide balanced scorecard programme involves regular
reporting of our environmental sustainability index and other key
performance indicators. We have also benchmarked our corporate
responsibility performance against leading companies in the Business in
the Community (BitC) Corporate Responsibility Index, increasing our
score by five per cent and taking us from a silver rating in 2008/09 to
gold in 2009/10.