Slavery & Human Trafficking Statement

Introduction from the Managing Director

Slavery and human trafficking remains a hidden blight on our global society.  We all have a responsibility to be alert to the risks, however small, in our business and in the wider supply chain.  Staff are expected to report concerns and management are expected to act upon them.

 

Organisation’s Structure

We are a manufacturer of lighting products and services.  Urbis Schréder Ltd is a subsidiary of Schréder SA.  The Group has its head office in Belgium and Urbis Schréder trades in the UK and Ireland.

 

Our Supply Chains

Our supply chains include the sourcing of components, columns, brackets and luminaires, with 99% of our purchase sourced from Schréder Group companies in Europe or supplies in the UK.

 

Our Policies on Slavery and Human Trafficking

We are committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains or in any part of our business.  Our Anti-slavery policy reflects our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business relationships and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure slavery and human trafficking is not taking place anywhere in our supply chains.

 

Due Diligence Processes for Slavery and Human Trafficking

As per our initiative to identify and mitigate risk:

  • We produce a high proportion of our luminaires from Schréder Group factories in Spain, Portugal, France and Hungary and also manufacture in the UK.  This allows control of the work environment.
  • We limit the geographical scope of 99% of our procurement to UK and European suppliers, to ensure optimum supervision of the supply chain;
  • We monitor potential risk areas in our business and supply chains;
  • Where possible, we build long standing relationships with local suppliers and make clear our expectations of business behaviour;
  • With regards to national or international supply chains, our point of contact is preferably with a UK company or branch and we expect these entities to have suitable anti-slavery and human trafficking policies and processes;
  • In order for a supplier to work with us, they must first become accredited via our internal vetting processes.  This involves the supplier completing a pre-qualification vendor questionnaire to determine whether they the right policies, processes and procedures in place to work with us.
  • We have systems in place to encourage the reporting of concerns and the protection of whistle blowers.

 

Supplier Adherence to our Values

We have zero tolerance to slavery and human trafficking.  We expect all those in our supply chain and contractors to comply with our values.

The Senior Management team are responsible for compliance in their respective departments and for their supplier relationships.

 

Training

To ensure a high level of understanding of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains and our business, we have made relevant members of staff aware of the Modern Slavery At, including its definitions on human trafficking.

Staff have been briefed on what to do if they suspect a case of slavery and human trafficking.

This statement is made pursuant to Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our Company’s Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement for the current financial year.

 

Gary Bennett

Managing Director