Chairman’s statement
The board is committed to maintaining high standards of corporate governance. As chairman, it is my role to ensure that these standards are promoted by the board and to ensure that the group is managed in the best interests of shareholders and our broader stakeholder group.
We recognise that a positive culture, together with a robust approach to governance, is key to the success of the organisation. As a professional services consultancy the group’s services are regulated by externally governed codes of practice and ethical behaviour. These regulatory professional standards are reinforced by the board which sets the culture of the group in promoting entrepreneurial growth against the background of sound regulatory compliance and ethical standards and a measured approach to risk taking.
We seek to be a trusted advisor to all of our clients, to act with integrity at all times and to take pride in the advice and solutions we provide.
We have a clear approach to governance and risk management with a highly experienced leadership team in executive and senior management positions together with robust compliance and governance procedures.
We are committed to a culture which ensures that our people enjoy working for the group, can develop their talents and fulfil their potential with us.
The 2021 annual report provides details on our approach to governance and application of the QCA Code, including reports from the audit and remuneration committees. I believe that the framework provided by the QCA Code contributes to our ability to deliver long-term shareholder value and assists the board in managing the business for all of its stakeholders, whilst maintaining a flexible, efficient and effective management framework within an entrepreneurial environment.
Further detail on our compliance with the ten principles of the QCA Code can be accessed by the download below.
Ric Traynor
Executive chairman
19 July 2021
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Board of directors
Ric has focused on the development of the business, including the Group’s successful introduction to the AIM in 2004, and on practice management. He continues to lead the business and remains a major shareholder.
He is the national head of our business recovery and advisory services, is an experienced insolvency practitioner and has been appointed on numerous complex and high-profile assignments. Mark is also a former president of the Insolvency Practitioners Association.
Modern slavery and human trafficking statement
Begbies Traynor Group plc (the “plc”) and it corporate group (“Group”) is a multidisciplinary, UK focused corporate recovery and professional services business. This statement is published by the plc and by Begbies Traynor (Central) LLP (a member of the Group) pursuant to Section 54 (1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 for the financial year ending 30 April 2021.
Slavery and human trafficking remains a menace to society. Everyone has a responsibility to be alert to the risks of this, particularly in a business and its supply chain. Staff are expected to report concerns and management are expected to act on such concerns as well as taking steps to minimise the risks of slavery and human trafficking when engaging with suppliers.
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 chain.
Due Diligence Processes for Slavery and Human Trafficking
- As part of our initiative to identify and mitigate risk we contract with UK companies or UK branches companies/businesses and we expect these entities to have suitable anti-slavery and human trafficking policies and processes in place and to, at least, adopt one up due diligence of the next link in the chain. It is not practical for us (and every other participant in the chain) to have a direct relationship with all links in the supply chain.
- We identify and assess potential risk areas in our supply chain.
- We mitigate the risk of slavery in human trafficking occurring in our supply chain.
- We monitor potential risk areas in our supply chain.
- We have a system in place to protect whistle-blowers who report any concerns regarding anti-slavery and human trafficking through our whistle-blowing policy.
Supplier Adherence To Our Values
We have a zero tolerance to slavery and human trafficking. To ensure all those in our supply chain and contractors comply with our values. Compliance with such values is enforced through our contract management processes and relationships which relevant commercial departments have with suppliers.
Training
To ensure a high level of understanding of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains in our business we provide training to relevant members of staff and all directors of the Group have been briefed on the subject.
Our Effectiveness In Combating Slavery In Human Trafficking
We have risk assessed our relevant supply chains to identify the risk of any slavery and human trafficking occurred and have taken steps where a tangible risk is perceived to understand steps taken by the supplier to ensure that no slavery or human trafficking is taking place in its supply chain. This is something which is kept under review on an annual basis.
The Begbies Traynor Group plc board of directors and the Begbies Traynor (Central) LLP designated members approved this statement on Wednesday 30 June 2021.
Carbon Reduction Plan
As a professional services business, we believe that the group has a low environmental impact when compared to many other industries. However, we are conscious of the impact we do have on the environment and are committed to making positive changes to minimise this where possible.
To achieve this the group has formed a Sustainability Group to develop and manage our plans. This will focus on the principal emissions from both our office estate and leased car fleet, together with other initiatives across the business.
The board will then set realistic and achievable targets to reduce our emissions in the coming years based on a specific action plan formulated by the Sustainability Group. It is anticipated that such initiatives will include;
- Sourcing renewable power for our offices
- Seeking to reduce business travel emissions
- Mandating an approved supplier regime to ensure that our sustainable ambitions are shared by our suppliers
In view of this the group is confident that its net-zero ambitions will be achieved substantially ahead of the widely required net-zero carbon organisation by 2050 commitment.
During the year, the group’s emissions have decreased due to the following factors:
- Organic reduction in emissions and energy consumption due to the change in working patterns during the periods of lockdown. This has involved increased use of technology, reduced amounts of travel and increased homeworking. Whilst we anticipate that this will reverse to some extent in the new financial year, we will seek to embed elements of these working practices into our corporate behaviour where practical on an ongoing basis
- CO2e conversion factor for electricity usage reduced by 17% between the 2021 and 2019 factors. This reflects the decrease in coal use in UK electricity generation and an increase in renewable generation. Partially offset by:
o Increase in absolute amount of emissions and energy consumption resulting from the acquisitions completed in the financial year
- Scope 1 are direct emissions from fuel consumption in either buildings or from company leased or owned vehicles.
- Scope 2 are indirect emissions from purchase of electricity in our offices.
- Scope 3 are emissions from the use of personal or privately- hired vehicles used for company business where employees are reimbursed based on claims for business mileage.
In 2021, we managed to get ahead of our target of reducing our CO2e emissions per full-time equivalent (FTE) by 34 percent compared to 2020.