BT 2002 Annual Report Download - page 25

24 BT Group Annual Report and Form 20-F 2002
Investors are paying increasing attention to the ways in
which companies manage social, environmental and ethical
issues. One manifestation of that interest has been the
introduction by the Association of British Insurers of
disclosure guidelines covering social, environmental and
ethical risks and opportunities.
BT's top-level response to those guidelines is provided
in the section on Corporate governance, with further
information provided here. More detailed disclosures on
BT's implementation of social, ethical and environmental
policies and procedures, including future objectives
and targets, are available online through our fully
independently veri®ed social and environmental report
at www.btplc.com/betterworld.
Corporate social responsibility governance
A Board committee ± the Community Support Committee ±
oversees social investment expenditure and establishes the
strategy for maximising our contribution to society.
The committee, chaired by Sir Christopher Bland, is made
up of representatives from BT businesses, two external
independent members who have a reputation for excellence
in this ®eld and a non-executive director.
An internal committee known as the Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) Steering Group oversees the
implementation of our CSR programme. This includes risk
assessment, performance measurement, public
accountability, ISO14001 registration and objective setting
and control. The group, which makes regular reports to the
Board, is chaired by Chris Earnshaw, our Group
Engineering Director and Chief Technology Of®cer.
In addition, social, ethical and environmental matters
have been incorporated into the directors' induction
programme.
We have important relationships with a wide range of
different stakeholders, including employees, customers and
suppliers. We engage with these stakeholders in a
multiplicity of ways, such as through consumer liaison
panels, an annual employee survey and a supplier
relationship management programme.
We also employ a number of professional CSR experts
who investigate long-term societal trends, identify potential
issues that might affect the business and, when
appropriate, support BT's commercial activities.
Business risks
BT's certi®cation to ISO14001, the international standard
for environmental management systems, includes an
environmental risk assessment process. As a result, the
bulk storage of diesel fuel for use in back-up generators
at telephone exchanges has been identi®ed as our only
signi®cant environmental risk.
Although there are a small number of BT sites where
ground remediation is taking place, the cost is not material
and so we declare no material contingent environmental
liability in our ®nancial statements. In order to minimise any
future liability in this area, we are undertaking an £18 million
programme to cover tank testing, enhanced maintenance
schedule and remedial works. To date we have spent
£6.9 million testing 4,645 tanks, 3,627 of which have
passed. Approximately 1,500 remedial jobs have been
identi®ed, 460 of which resulted in the decommissioning of
the existing tank.
Currently, we identify no social or ethical risks that
would have a material impact on our business. However,
we have identi®ed the issue of supply chain working
conditions as posing a potential risk to our reputation. In
order to address this potential risk, we have introduced
Sourcing with Human Dignity ± a collaborative undertaking
requiring the active support of all our suppliers.
Objectives
The objectives of our CSR programme are to:
&maximise BT's positive impact on society;
&maximise BT's reputation for social responsibility; and
&support BT's business success.
Impact on society
Other parts of this report cover business integrity, corporate
governance and employee issues, such as diversity and
health and safety. This section concentrates on our
community and environmental activities, and products for
older and disabled customers.
We commit a minimum of 0.5% of our UK pre-tax
pro®ts to direct activities in support of society. This has
grown from £10 million in 1987 to £15 million (including
£1.2 million to charities) in the 2002 ®nancial year. In the
past ®nancial year, BT operations also provided a further
£11 million in funding and support-in-kind.
Our aim is to help create a better world by tackling big
issues where better communication can make a real
difference.
For example, more than 6,000 schools and nearly
1.5 million young people have had direct experience of the
BT Education Programme, a drama-based campaign
helping children to improve their communications skills. This
activity is supported by a new volunteering programme,
which recruited over 1,000 employees during the 2002
®nancial year.
BT's contribution to charitable causes is extensive and
uses a range of communications tools, including our
telephone network for disaster appeals and for telethons,
such as Comic Relief, Children in Need and GMTV's Get Up
and Give. Through our support, this enables the appeals to
raise tens of millions of pounds each year. We also provide
helplines such as Shelter Line and Parent Line.
In addition, during the 2002 ®nancial year, BT people
gave £1.8 million directly to charities through Give as you
Earn, to which BT added a direct contribution of £1 million.
The Digital Divide is a key public policy issue and we
are working together with the UK Government and the
voluntary and NGO sectors to ®nd effective ways to utilise
communications technology in tackling social exclusion.
In particular, we have developed a campaign approach to
address issues at a community level in a number of pilot
areas, aimed at discovering the main drivers that encourage
Our commitment to society