Responsibility governance

All our businesses operate within a clear corporate responsibility governance framework. This is defined at Group level but emphasises that decisions for our businesses should be made collaboratively, rather than imposed unilaterally.

On a regular basis, the Board conducts a detailed review of each of our business segments. This covers the materiality of sustainability and ESG factors. The Board has overall responsibility for reviewing ESG factors across ABF with support from:

• our Director of Legal Services and Company Secretary, Paul Lister – who reviews all ESG aspects;
• our Group Corporate Responsibility Director, Katharine Stewart – who leads the Corporate Responsibility Hub team; and
• our Chief People and Performance Officer (CPPO), Sue Whalley – who reviews all employee factors, including safety, mental health, financial wellbeing, employee development and diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I), workforce engagement, as well as procurement and security.

Leadership teams in each ABF business have responsibility and are accountable for their ESG programmes. They can access specialist support if needed from our Corporate Responsibility Hub team and from the teams supporting Paul Lister and Sue Whalley.

We have processes in place across the Group, along with policies and procedures, to help our businesses address critical governance risks, such as bribery and corruption.

Once a year the Board and CPPO review progress made in respect of talent, DE&I workforce engagement, physical safety, wellbeing and environmental compliance. The businesses also include these factors in their individual updates to the Board.

Governance framework