Modern slavery sure that nobody has paid any amounts in order to secure a job. Our ‘Speak up’ whistleblowing We have a zero-tolerance approach to any form helpline is open to all colleagues, all workers on of modern slavery, fully support measures to our premises and suppliers, see page 75. eradicate this criminal activity and are committed to putting effective systems and controls in place SUPPLY CHAIN to safeguard against any form of modern slavery Controls to identify and eradicate modern slavery taking place in any part of our business or supply through our product supply chain are maintained chain. through the audit activity against our Ethical Code of Conduct. All suppliers sign our Ethical Code DUNELM SITES of Conduct, and we expect them to review and Our approach to modern slavery within our own implement this code, working together to achieve business operations is managed through a working continuous improvement. More information group consisting of the Company Secretary, the about our supply chain auditing process and Head of Procurement, a People Business Partner developments can be found in the Responsible and the Head of Quality and Sustainability, with sourcing section on pages 56 to 61. Our Ethical valuable input from departments around the Code of Conduct policy is available on our website business. The Company Secretary reports to the and a summary is provided in the table below. Executive Board and the Dunelm Group Board POLICY on modern slavery issues, and the Dunelm Group Board approves our annual Slavery Trafficking ETHICAL CODE OF CONDUCT POLICY: statement (pursuant to Section 54, Part 6 of the SUMMARY OF TOPICS COVERED Modern Slavery Act 2015) and formally reviews our policy and performance on ethical trading and Child labour modern slavery every year. Our full statement is Employment is freely chosen available on our website. POLICY Hours of work Wages and benefits Following a risk assessment of our own premises Freedom of association and the related supply chain in 2016, our Executive Discrimination Board approved an action plan which is reviewed No harsh or inhumane treatment is allowed annually. For example, we limit and – as far as possible – eliminate the use of agency workers Regular employment is provided at our customer service and manufacturing Health and safety centres, and limit our usage in our warehouses, Environmental requirements distribution centres and in our home delivery network. At our Stoke warehouse we audit our own Agency labour colleague policies and practices, our use of agency Audits workers, and provide training for our management Supplier compliance colleagues and distribution partners. We have also Sub-contractors added a question to our interview process to make Whistleblowing Verisio has been working with Dunelm since 2018 Dunelm has taken significant steps over the last year to and provides services ensure that its supply chain is compliant with the Modern that include auditing, supply chain mapping, risk Slavery Act 2015, with an increased focus on spot check assessment and random audits. All audits were completely unannounced and unannounced spot check carried out by qualified and experienced APSCA auditors. audits. During the year, we have held two online In some cases, unannounced spot check audits had supplier conferences with different outcomes to the routine, semi-unannounced Verisio to reinforce our ethical policy and standards. ones, and the results were used to strengthen the overall management of Dunelm’s supply chain.” DUNELM GROUP PLCANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS 2021 73 STRATEGIC REPORT GOVERNANCEFINANCIAL STATEMENTSOTHER INFORMATION