Ethical and Sustainable Trading and Supplier Policy

Although we are a small organisation, we are committed to conducting our business in an ethical and sustainable way promoting principles of fairness and equity at all times.

Our Ethical and Sustainable Trading and Supplier Policy applies to all purchases of goods and the provision and engagement of all services utilised by the business.

As part of our Quality Review Procedure, we maintain and review a List of Suppliers which provides a full list of all organisations with whom we work, trade and carry out business and who provide services to us. The Quality Review Committee review this List at their quarterly Management Review meetings. Our aim is to ensure that the way business is conducted throughout the whole of our supply chain conforms to our own ethical standards and is legally compliant.

This Policy supports the aims and principles of our ethical approach which is summarised as follows:

• We support, and expect all our suppliers to support, the principles set out within the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Labour Organisation Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the UN Global Compact and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
• Ethical Procurement: We strive to maintain the highest standards of ethical conduct and corporate responsibility and seek to encourage our suppliers to operate to similar high standards
• We are committed to the principles of sustainable development and aim to encourage our suppliers to adopt the values of sustainability which we uphold.
• We expect all of our partners, staff and those representing the firm to adhere to our principles
• We will select and treat our suppliers fairly and objectively at all times
• We will carry out background check on all new suppliers to ensure that their ethical policies match our own.
• We will continually review and monitor our supplier’s ethical positon and standards as part of our Quality Standard rolling audit
• We will pay suppliers in accordance with the agreed terms and deal with exceptions in a timely manner
• We will work with suppliers to eliminate enslaved labour or human trafficking. If we find evidence of this practice, we will report this to the relevant authorities where appropriate and we will remove that supplier from our supplier list and will cease to do business with them
• We will seek to ensure that key suppliers understand and comply with this Ethical and Sustainable Trading and Supplier Policy.
• We expect our suppliers to conduct business without the payment or receipt of inducements, unlawful incentives or other benefits that might be considered an attempt to influence decision makers;
• to respect fundamental human rights, including worker representation
• to treat employees fairly, never abuse or threaten them and never use forced, bonded or child labour
• to maintain a safe working environment at all times and provide access to protective equipment and safety training for all employees
• to maintain effective policies, processes and procedures to manage their environmental impact and to operate their business in a sustainable way
• to comply with all applicable local, national, regional and international laws, regulations and directives at all times
• to respect the intellectual property rights and information of others

Should anyone become aware or concerned over the ethical approach or credentials of any supplier, they must bring this to the attention of the Quality Partner, Diane Cairney, at the earliest opportunity.