Marks and Spencer 2013 Annual Report Download - page 77

Governance Marks and Spencer Group plc Annual report and financial statements 2013 75
Overview Strategic review Financial review Governance Financial statements and other information
We maintain contact with retired staff through communications
from the Company and the Pension Trust. Member-nominated
trustees have been elected to the Pension Trust Board,
including employees and pensioners. We continue to produce
a regular Pensions Update newsletter for members of our final
salary pension scheme and the M&S Retirement Plan.
Equal opportunities
The Group is committed to an active equal opportunities
policy from recruitment and selection, through training and
development, performance reviews and promotion to
retirement. It is our policy to promote an environment free from
discrimination, harassment and victimisation, where everyone
will receive equal treatment regardless of gender, colour, ethnic
or national origin, disability, age, marital status, sexual
orientation or religion. All decisions relating to employment
practices will be objective, free from bias and based solely
upon work criteria and individual merit. The Company is
responsive to the needs of its employees, customers and the
community at large. We are an organisation which uses
everyone’s talents and abilities and where diversity is valued.
We were one of the first major companies to remove the default
retirement age in 2001 and have continued to see an increase
in employees wanting to work past the state retirement age.
Our oldest employee is 86 years old and joined the business at
age 80. The Company once again featured in The Times Top
50 places for Women to work in April 2013 and considers this
to highlight how equal opportunities are available for all.
Employees with disabilities
It is our policy that people with disabilities should have full and
fair consideration for all vacancies. During the year, we
continued to demonstrate our commitment to interviewing
those people with disabilities who fulfil the minimum criteria,
and endeavouring to retain employees in the workforce if they
become disabled during employment. We will actively retrain
and adjust their environment where possible to allow them to
maximise their potential. We continue to work with external
organisations to provide workplace opportunities through our
innovative Marks & Start scheme and by working closely with
JobCentrePlus. This year we have focused on introducing this
scheme into our new distribution centre in Castle Donington,
where we are working with Remploy to support people with
disabilities and health conditions into work.
Essential contracts or arrangements
The Company is required to disclose any contractual or other
arrangements which it considers are essential to its business.
We have a wide range of suppliers for the production and
distribution of products to our customers. Whilst the loss of or
disruption to certain of these arrangements could temporarily
affect the operations of the Group, none are considered to be
essential, with the exception of certain warehouse operators
and the provider of the Company’s e-commerce platform.
Groceries Supply Code of Practice
The Groceries (Supply Chain Practices) Market Investigation
Order 2009 (“Order”) and The Groceries Supply Code of
Practice (“GSCOP”) impose obligations on M&S relating to
relationships with its suppliers of groceries. M&S operates
systems and controls to ensure compliance with the Order and
GSCOP including the following:
–The terms and conditions which govern the trading
relationship between M&S and those of its suppliers that
supply groceries to M&S incorporate GSCOP.
–New suppliers are issued with information as required by
the Order.
–M&S has a Code Compliance Officer as required under the
Order, supported by our in-house legal department.
–Employee training on GSCOP is provided, including annual
refresher programmes and new starter training.
Under the Order and GSCOP, M&S is required to submit an
annual report detailing its compliance with GSCOP to the Audit
Committee for approval and to the Office of Fair Trading. M&S
submitted its report to the Audit Committee on 10 May 2013
covering the period from 1 April 2012 to 30 March 2013. In
accordance with the Order, a summary of that compliance
report is set out below:
M&S believes that it has complied in full with GSCOP and the
Order during the relevant period. Only two suppliers alleged
breaches of the Order/GSCOP. One of the allegations led to a
dispute, which is detailed below, and the other was withdrawn
by the supplier and the issue resolved to the satisfaction of
both parties.
One formal dispute has arisen under the Order/GSCOP
between M&S and a grocery supplier in the reporting period.
M&S completely denies any breach and arbitration proceedings
have not yet been initiated by the supplier.
Creditor payment policy
For all trade creditors, it is the Group’s policy to:
–agree the terms of payment at the start of business with that
supplier;
–ensure that suppliers are aware of the terms of payment; and
–pay in accordance with its contractual and other legal
obligations.
The main trading company, Marks and Spencer plc, has a
policy concerning the payment of trade creditors as follows:
–general merchandise payments are received between 25 and
60 days after the stock was invoiced
–food payments are received between 19 and 54 days after the
stock was invoiced; and
–distribution suppliers are paid monthly, for costs incurred in
that month, based on estimates, and payments are adjusted
quarterly to reflect any variations to estimate.
Trade creditor days for Marks and Spencer plc for the year
ended 30 March 2013 were 24 days, or 16 working days (last
year 26 days, or 17 working days), based on the ratio of
Company trade creditors at the end of the year to the amounts
invoiced during the year by trade creditors.
Market value of properties
The Directors believe that the open market value of the
properties of the Group exceeds their net book value.
Charitable donations
In line with our Plan A commitments, during the year, the Group
made charitable donations to support the community of £11m
(last year £11.4m), excluding management costs and
memberships. These principally consisted of cash donations of
£6.2m (last year £6.9m) which included UNICEF, WWF, MCS,
Breakthrough Breast Cancer, Macmillan Cancer Support,