1. Introduction
This statement is published in accordance with the provisions of the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015. It sets out the steps we have taken within BritNed Development Limited to prevent modern slavery within our business and supply chain during the financial year ending 31 December 2023.
2. Our business and supply chain
We are the owner and operator of the high voltage direct current subsea interconnector for the transmission of electricity between Great Britain and The Netherlands. The interconnector supports the security and affordability of energy supply in these countries and allows our customers to participate in European wholesale electricity markets.
We are a small organisation, with circa 45 team members and a supply chain limited to companies primarily based within the UK and the European Union providing professional services to us. Our general assessment is that our business partners, suppliers and sub-contractors operate in lower risk areas but we continue to be vigilant to the potential for modern slavery in our supply chain.
3. Policies in relation to modern slavery
We are committed to our obligations within the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015, in addition to our wider commitments to the human rights and working rights of all our employees and those employed within our supply chain. These commitments are incorporated within both our internal Business Code of Conduct and external Supplier Code of Conduct. Our Business Code of Conduct applies to all our team members and sets out our ethical business conduct values and the way we expect our team members to behave. Our Supplier Code of Conduct sets out these values to parties within our supply chain.
4. Steps taken to prevent modern slavery
We have taken the following steps to prevent modern slavery during 2023:
- Continued to review key supplier contracts for the opportunity to incorporate anti-slavery clauses. These clauses include the requirement for our suppliers to demonstrate compliance with relevant laws, regulations and our own modern slavery policies.
- Reviewed our modern slavery policies and arrangements to ensure that they continue to reflect best practice in this area.
- Continued to use an online solution to enable the ongoing assessment of team member’s understanding of a range of business conduct topics, including modern slavery. To-date our team members have demonstrated a high degree of understanding in this area.
5. Our ongoing commitment to preventing modern slavery
We will continue to review and develop our approach to preventing modern slavery within our business and supply chain in the year ahead.
This statement was approved by the Board of Directors of BritNed Development Limited.
