Tesco 2014 Annual Report Download - page 40

Corporate Responsibility Committee attendance
Members
Number of possible
meetings attended
Actual meetings
attended
Sir Richard Broadbent (Chairman) 3 3
Patrick Cescau 3 3
Deanna Oppenheimer 3 3
Jacqueline Tammenoms Bakker 3 3
Corporate responsibility is an integral part of how our business
operates. It reflects the inescapable reality that if the values of a
business fail to resonate with the values of society, it is endangering
long-term prosperity. Tesco is committed to identifying and living the
values which are important to our colleagues and customers and the
Corporate Responsibility Committee provides a forum to ensure the
Board gives adequate attention to this.
Last year we introduced a new Value: we use our scale for good,
and during the year we have made considerable progress in
embedding that Value into our business. Some of the highlights
of our work are described below. The full ambit of the Committee’s
work can be gauged by reading the Tesco and Society Report 2014
which accompanies our Annual Report and Financial Statements.
After chairing the Committee for the last two years it has been
agreed that I should rotate off as the Chairman of the Committee
and that Jacqueline Tammenoms Bakker would take over the chair
with effect from 1 March 2014.
Sir Richard Broadbent
Corporate Responsibility Committee Chairman
Corporate Responsibility Committee responsibilities
The Corporate Responsibility Committee was established in 2012
to ensure that the Board maintains an adequate focus on corporate
responsibility in its widest sense. The Committee’s terms of reference
are available at www.tescoplc.com.
The key responsibilities of the Committee are to:
•Define the Group’s corporate and social obligations as a
responsible citizen and oversee its conduct in the context
of those obligations
• Approve a strategy for discharging the Group’s corporate
and social responsibilities in such a way as to command
respect and confidence
• Identify and monitor those external developments which are likely
to have a significant influence on the Group’s reputation and/or its
ability to conduct its business appropriately as a good citizen
and review how best to protect that reputation or that ability
•Oversee the creation of appropriate policies and
supporting measures
•Monitor the Group’s engagement with external stakeholders
and other interested parties
•Ensure that appropriate communications policies are in place
and working effectively to build and protect the Group’s
reputation both internally and externally
Activities during the year
Last year we introduced a new core purpose: we make what
matters better, together. We also articulated a new Value to
help us achieve our core purpose: we use our scale for good.
It’s based on the recognition that by using our skills and scale,
we can make a significant contribution to major challenges
facing society.
We chose to take a lead in tackling three challenges which
were particularly relevant to us as a large global retailer and
are important to our colleagues, customers and communities.
Our three big ambitions are:
•To lead in reducing food waste globally
•To improve health and through this help to tackle the global
obesity crisis
•To create new opportunities for millions of people around
the world
These three ambitions build on our essential responsibilities as a
good corporate citizen – in terms of trading responsibly, reducing
our impact on the environment, being a great employer and
supporting local communities.
Over the last 12 months we’ve worked hard to embed our new
Value through the business. We want to help deliver significant,
long-term change and so our focus has been on examining the
problems and developing clear and focused plans of action:
insight-to-action. We have engaged with experts in the different
areas. We have held roundtable discussions on a range of subjects
including health, young people, food sourcing and food waste.
In tackling food waste we have published our own operations
waste data which has been independently assured by KPMG.
We have also developed profiles of some of our most frequently
purchased products showing where most food waste occurs in the
value chain from farm to fork. Identifying these hotspots means
that we can focus our action plans where we can make the biggest
difference. In improving health, our new Healthy Little Differences
Tracker will map the health profile of our customers’ shopping trips
over time. In providing opportunities, we have carried out extensive
research with young people to find out their ambitions, the
challenges they face and the support that they need.
During the year, the Committee was updated on the progress
made on our three big ambitions and discussed the performance
measures for this work. The Committee was briefed on the
development of an advisory panel which would share views
and insights from outside the business, look at best practice
and emerging trends, challenge current thinking and collaborate
to help find solutions. The Committee also discussed the results
of the latest research on reputation.
Further information is available in our Tesco and Society
Report 2014, which can be found on our website at
www.tescoplc.com/society.
Corporate Responsibility Committee Report
Sir Richard Broadbent
Corporate Responsibility Committee Chairman
Other information
Governance Financial statementsStrategic report
Tesco PLC Annual Report and Financial Statements 2014 37