Barclays 2003 Annual Report Download - page 12

10
Corporate Social Responsibility
• We invested over £32m in the community,
which included a continued commitment of
1% of UK pre-tax profits.
• We paid almost £1bn in taxes in 2003.
• We upgraded a further 312 branches to meet
the needs of customers with disabilities.
• We helped tackle financial exclusion by
providing access to banking through our
Cash Card account for 55,500 new
customers.
• We co-developed and adopted the Equator
Principles to support our commitments
to socially and environmentally responsible
lending.
• We achieved an Excellent Environmental
Assessment (BREEAM) rating for our new
HQ building at 1 Churchill Place, Canary
Wharf, London.
• We continued our HIV/AIDS support
programme in Africa for employees and
their families.
• 7,659 employees participated in Make a
Difference Day in the UK, Spain and Africa.
• We introduced an innovative new pension
scheme (afterwork) for UK employees
designed to provide them with more
certainty at retirement.
2003 was a landmark year for Barclays and our approach to Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR). Over the past 12 months we have fundamentally
reviewed our CSR strategy against an agenda that is becoming more
challenging and increasingly complex. As a result of this review, and with
a clear mandate from the Board and Group Executive Committee, we have
renewed and strengthened our determination that Barclays should be a
leader in this field.
Our aim is simple: to become a leading company in our approach to CSR,
and to be recognised as such by all our stakeholders. As Vice-Chairman
and a member of the Barclays Board, I have been charged by the Group
Chief Executive to lead our efforts worldwide in pursuit of this goal.
We intend to embed CSR values into every aspect and level of decision
making within the organisation. Over the following pages, we provide
a brief outline of what we have achieved during 2003.
In 2003, we maintained our membership of the Dow Jones Sustainability
Index and of FTSE4Good. Additionally, we received public recognition
for our pioneering work on tackling financial exclusion and for our
progressive HR policies in areas such as employee pensions and in our
approach to diversity in the workplace. Building on our achievement in
2002 when we received accredited certification to the International
Standard ISO 14001 in recognition of our work on Environmental
Management, our new headquarters building currently under
construction at 1 Churchill Place, incorporates leading-edge features
and was the first to obtain an ‘Excellent’ rating under the BREEAM ‘2002
for Offices’ scheme on the Canary Wharf Estate.
Our community programme continued to go from strength to strength,
with employee involvement at its heart. We supported over 20,000
employees in their volunteering and fundraising activities in 2003. Our
total investment in local communities amounted to over £32 million,
making the Barclays Community Programme one of the largest of its
kind in the UK.
Barclays is a global bank, and the scope of our programmes is spreading
all the time. In Africa, for example, Barclays is regarded as a role model
for our work among the disadvantaged and particularly in the field of
HIV/AIDS prevention and support.
A key CSR priority for 2004 is to enhance trust and reputation in
Barclays. The establishment of a Brand and Reputation Committee
comprising our most senior business line executives will play a major
role in this regard.
We recognise that we have more to do, but I hope you find the following
account of our CSR performance interesting, engaging and inspiring.
Chris Lendrum
Vice-Chairman
For more information:
www.barclays.co.uk/socialresponsibility