Marks and Spencer 2006 Annual Report Download - page 31

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29Marks and Spencer Group plc
Directors’ responsibilities
The directors are obliged under company law to prepare
financial statements for each financial year and to present them
annually to the Company’s members at the Annual General
Meeting.
The financial statements, of which the form and content is
prescribed by the Companies Act 1985 and applicable
accounting standards, must give a true and fair view of the state
of affairs of the Company and the Group at the end of the
financial year, and of the profit for that period.
The directors are also responsible for the adoption of suitable
accounting policies and their consistent use in the financial
statements, supported where necessary by reasonable and
prudent judgements.
The directors confirm that the above requirements have been
complied with in the financial statements.
In addition, the directors are responsible for maintaining
adequate accounting records and sufficient internal controls to
safeguard the assets of the Group and to prevent and detect
fraud or any other irregularities, as described more fully in the
Corporate Governance statement on page 38.
Audit information
The directors confirm that, so far as they are aware, there is no
relevant audit information of which the auditors are unaware and
that each director has taken all reasonable steps to make
themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to
establish that the auditors are aware of that information.
Directors’ indemnities
The Company maintains liability insurance for its directors
and officers. Following shareholder approval in July 2005,
the Company has also provided an indemnity for its directors
and the secretary, which is a qualifying third party indemnity
provision for the purposes of the Companies Act 1985.
Employee involvement
We have maintained our commitment to employee involvement
throughout the business.
Employees are kept well informed of the performance and
objectives of the Group through personal briefings, regular
meetings and email. These are supplemented by our employee
publication, and video presentations. Business Involvement
Groups in stores, and head office locations represent employees
in two-way communication and are involved in the delivery of
change and driving business improvement.
The eleventh meeting of the European Council took place last
July. This council provides an additional forum for
communicating with employee representatives from the
countries in the European Community.
Directors and senior management regularly visit stores and
discuss, with employees, matters of current interest and
concern to the business.
We continue to support employee share ownership through
long-established employee share schemes, membership of
which is service-related, details of which are given on
pages 69 to 72.
We maintain contact with retired staff through communications
from the Company and the Pension Trust. Elections are currently
underway to appoint member-nominated trustees to the
Pension Trust Board, including employees and pensioners.
Our retired staff have also recently benefited from a significant
increase in their M&S discount entitlement.