Our statement on modern slavery
We have zero tolerance of slavery and human trafficking and are committed to maintaining and improving systems, processes and policies to avoid complicity in human rights violation and to prevent slavery and human trafficking in our supply chain.
The Trust policies, procedures, governance and legal arrangements are robust, ensuring that proper checks and due diligence are applied in employment procedures to ensure compliance with this legislation. We also conform to the NHS employment check standards within our workforce recruitment and selection practices. This strategic approach incorporates analysis of the Trust’s supply chains and its partners to assess risk exposure and management on modern slavery.
To ensure all those in our supply chain and our contractors comply with our values, we use the Ethical Trading Initiative Base Code as our organisational standard on labour and we ensure that our suppliers adhere to this via our sourcing process.
To ensure a high level of understanding of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains and our business, we provide training to our procurement staff. The procurement department’s senior team are all Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) qualified and abide by the CIPs code of professional conduct. Specific training is provided annually for the Trust’s internal supply chain management related to slavery and human trafficking.
In addition, the Trust is meeting its supply chain commitments on slavery and human trafficking by undertaking the following steps:
- For all Terms and Conditions, including specific clauses that reflect our obligations under the Modern Slavery Act 2015
- Including relevant pass/fail criteria for all Procurement-led tender processes and new vendor requests
- Up-skilling the Procurement and Supplies Team on the implications of the Act in order that they can support the wider organisation on its implementation
- Communicating to all high risk suppliers providing an overview of the legislation, stating our intent and future expectations
- For those contracts deemed to be of high risk, including the specific Right to Audit against the obligations of the Modern Slavery Act 2015
- The Trust employs solely within the UK although we recruit both from the UK and overseas, working in line with NHS Employment Check Standards. How we treat our employees is managed consistently across the Trust by the People and Organisational Development Directorate. The Trust pays above the national living wage i.e. the minimum wage set by the Government.
- Risks to Mersey and West Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust associated with this Act are managed in accordance with the Trust’s Risk Management Policy.
The Board of Directors has considered and approved this statement and will continue to support the requirements of the legislation.
This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ended 31 March 2023.