Holiday Inn 2015 Annual Report Download - page 66

Corporate Governance continued
Targets and core programmes
The Committee continually monitors its progress against IHG’s
five-year targets (2013-2017) – see pages 30 and 31 and
www.ihgplc.com/responsiblebusiness for details.
Its activities included receiving progress updates on the key
achievements in 2015 across the core corporate responsibility
programmes: the IHG Green Engage system, IHG Academy and the
Group’s disaster relief and preparedness programme. The Committee
also considered a detailed review of the progress and implementation
of the core programmes in the Greater China and AMEA regions.
Other key issues reviewed by the Committee
The Committee also undertook a review of IHG’s approach to
responsible procurement and human rights, and reviewed the
requirements of the Modern Slavery Act.
Finally, the Committee considered the establishment of the IHG
Foundation, an independent charitable trust founded to help local
communities address the key social, economic and environmental
challenges affecting them. The IHG Foundation was launched on
3 February 2016, and it is anticipated that it will be the focus of the
Group’s employee and community fundraising efforts going forward.
Communication and awareness
In 2015, the Committee evaluated the Corporate Responsibility
Communication Plan and the results of the Employee Engagement
survey. Responsible business activities continue to drive very high
levels of pride in our employees: over 93 per cent of respondents
said they felt more positive about IHG as a result of our corporate
responsibility programmes. More information on our responsible
business programmes is on page 24.
We continue to receive good feedback from our investor and media
breakfast, which we held again in 2015. It’s an opportunity for us to
discuss our approach to corporate responsibility as part of our wider
responsible business agenda in detail, and to answer questions.
The Committee also spent time providing feedback on the
2015 Responsible Business Report, visit www.ihgplc.com/
responsiblebusiness to view the report.
Our priorities for 2016
During 2016, our priorities will be to: (i) continue to drive meaningful
progress on our five-year corporate responsibility targets, and consider
and determine targets for the period beyond 2017; (ii) further enhance
our efforts to reduce water use in our operations through developing
our water stewardship strategy; (iii) accelerate the roll-out of IHG
Academy across our global hotel estate and to deliver a positive impact
on participants and our hotels; (iv) continue to enhance disaster
preparedness efforts in IHG hotels and local communities to deliver
greater community resilience; (v) continue to increase awareness
of human rights, embed the human rights standard and leverage
e-learning courses and other training; and (vi) continue to deliver
the stakeholder engagement plan, with a focus on guest engagement.
I am incredibly proud of the progress we have already made, and I
know the Committee will remain focused on delivering positive change
in the communities in which we operate, and will continue to seek
opportunities to make these communities better places to be for all.
Jennifer Laing
Corporate Responsibility Committee Chairman
22 February 2016
The Corporate Responsibility
Committee is focused on delivering
positive change in the communities
in which we operate.”
Corporate Responsibility Committee Report
The Committee advises the Board on the Group’s corporate
responsibility objectives and strategy and its approach to sustainable
development, and ensures that IHG’s corporate responsibility priorities
deliver against our core purpose: Great Hotels Guests Love.
Governance
Details of our role and responsibilities are set out in our terms of
reference (ToR) which are reviewed annually and updated accordingly.
In 2015, they were updated to include accountability to review and
advise the Board on the Group’s approach to social and human rights
issues and the annual Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement.
The ToR are available on the Company’s website at www.ihgplc.com/
investors under corporate governance/committees.
On 1 March 2015, Anne Busquet was appointed to the Committee and,
on 19 March 2015, we welcomed Jill McDonald to the Committee, as
Dale Morrison stood down to take up a new role on the Remuneration
Committee. I will be stepping down as Chairman of the Committee
on 6 May 2016, and Jill McDonald will take over as Chair with effect
from that date.
Our corporate responsibility strategy in action The Committee, along with our Corporate
Responsibility team and the rest of the Board, took part in a walk to raise awareness of our
disaster relief programme.
64 IHG Annual Report and Form 20-F 2015