Corporate Social Responsibility

Thorntons PLC recognises it has social, ethical and environmental responsibilities arising from its operations. Integrity is one of our brand values and we are committed to the welfare of our colleagues, customers, suppliers and the communities in which we operate.

Making our products

SOURCING OUR MATERIALS
Our products use over 300 different raw materials, which are sourced by our suppliers from all around the world. The majority of our product range are made with natural colouring and flavours and our entire children's range contains no artificial colours, flavours or added preservatives. A few years ago we introduced an organic product range and we are about to launch our first 'Fairtrade' products this autumn. To qualify as 'Fairtrade', products must meet the international 'Fairtrade' standards, which relate to three areas of sustainable development: social, economic and environmental development.

We currently ensure ethical, social and environmental standards are maintained by auditing and visiting 95% of our suppliers on a regular basis. Our main concern is food safety but our audits also review ethics, health and safety, employee pay, employment conditions, use of child labour and environmental policies and practices.

Over the last twelve months our purchasing policy has been reviewed and revised to ensure all suppliers are treated fairly. We apply the highest moral and business standards and treat information we receive from suppliers in confidence. We aim to build long-term relationships with our suppliers on the basis of openness and honesty.

Thorntons is a member of the World Cocoa Foundation ("WCF"). One of the WCF's objectives is to encourage responsible sustainable cocoa farming amongst these small family-run businesses. Through a better understanding of their aims, objectives and projects, we are examining ways we can make a greater contribution to improving the conditions of cocoa farmers.

OUR EMPLOYEES
In addition to providing core benefits of remuneration (including annual incentive schemes), holidays, sick pay, life assurance and pension provision, Thorntons offers a recently reviewed flexible benefits programme, training and development programmes, discounts and participation in Company share scheme offers. Thorntons recognises that work plays an important role in people's lives but equally important is the time spent with families and friends and it has developed family friendly policies including maternity/paternity/adoption leave; parental leave; time off for dependents and compassionate leave. Employees and their immediate families also have access to a confidential counselling and legal assistance helpline which operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and the Company has a published procedure ("whistle blowing policy") for employees to report any concerns confidentially.

Last year we undertook a major restructuring and simplification of grading and pay rates for our employees. This year, we commissioned an external company to survey all of our employees covering a wide range of issues including company benefits, working conditions and working relationships. The results of the survey will be fed back to all employees and used to further identify and implement improvements.

The Company has recently taken steps to improve its succession planning by undertaking an audit of the skills, qualifications and aspirations of our management staff. This information is vital to ensure we develop the capability to grow the business in line with our long-term goals. Management performance is reviewed annually and, under the new grading structures, the Company is planning to introduce management development reviews.

Training is available to all staff and we aim to develop both individuals and teams in line with our business needs such that we grow our organisational capability.

FAIRTRADE POLICY
Thorntons is committed to developing and extending its range of Fairtrade products, in support of the Fairtrade movement for fairer trading standards around the world.

We are working closely with the Fairtrade organisation and for the first year are supporting Fairtrade Fortnight online and across all of our 600 retail stores and franchises. In 2009 we launched our first Fairtrade Easter egg, to further extend our Fairtrade range of three Fairtrade Chocolate Blocks.

The Fairtrade Easter egg was another small step for Thorntons as we continually strive to meet our Fairtrade objectives.

Thorntons aim over the next three years is to move more of our chocolate supply to Fairtrade and build closer direct relationships with cocoa farmers and cooperatives.

COMMUNITY ISSUES
The seasonal nature of our business means that we employ a large number of temporary staff from the local community in our production and indeed we have a policy to recruit staff locally in order to provide a benefit to the local community. As the business expands we have been able to offer temporary staff permanent positions.

Many of our ingredients are sourced from local, UK based, suppliers and this factor is considered in our purchasing decisions for both ingredients and packaging of goods.

Thorntons retains links with its former staff through annual outings and dinners and builds new relationships through local school activities and work placement schemes.

HEALTH AND SAFETY IN PRODUCTION
In order to ensure continual improvement in health and safety, Thorntons has a safety improvement programme and central to this programme is regular health and safety risk assessments and over the year we have trebled the number of risk assessments and complemented these with training courses for managers. We have also improved the documentation of hazards during this period. An analysis of our health and safety statistics identified manual handling and slips, trips and falls as the major causes of lost-time accidents. Clear manual handling control measures have been introduced which has resulted in a steady decline in lost time accidents in production of 47% over the last two years.

We monitor and review the incidents and accidents in the workplace so that we can take appropriate action to improve working conditions. In order to improve the safety of visitors, employees and contractors around the site we have introduced pedestrian and vehicle segregation in areas of high traffic flow. We have also improved our procedures for accepting visitors and contractors on to the production site.

A health and safety site committee meets regularly to discuss unresolved health and safety matters and reviews statistics on accidents and lost time accidents.

In September this year we are planning an independent external health and safety audit and this will be followed by assistance from external consultants to further improve our accident reporting procedures.

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH
Whilst always aiming to minimise accidents occurring in the workplace, we are also working with our insurers and have improved our occupational health service to employees by providing post accident access to private medical services, which will assist with the rehabilitation process. We also use an external occupational health company to provide us with health management services and a doctor attends Thornton Park weekly. Free eye tests and spectacles, where required, are provided for all VDU operatives.

We have also introduced a wellbeing policy to help deal with stress at work. In the coming year we plan to undertake a new noise assessment across Thornton Park and provide audiometric screening for all relevant employees.

Offering customers choice

CUSTOMERS
We believe in offering customers choices about what they purchase and offer both organic and diabetic ranges. We have recently introduced a range of Fairtrade products and have plans to develop dairy-free easter eggs for Easter 2009.

As our products are luxury gift items, they are not viewed as part of a balanced diet, but we can provide advice on consumption and do inform consumers about nutrients through the pack labelling, where size permits. Thorntons also provides information on specific ingredients on request, e.g. whether products are gluten-free, or contain alcohol.

We undertake regular consumer surveys, which include questions about ethics and respond to the results of these surveys when developing our products. In addition, we obtain feedback from staff serving customers in our stores of their perception of issues that affect customer satisfaction and build them into our plans.

Customer complaints are handled centrally and we are proud of the process we have established. All complaint investigations are started within 24hrs of receipt and we attempt to resolve each one to the satisfaction of our customers. Our policy is to communicate with our customers in "plain English". All complaints are recorded so that we can undertake a detailed analysis, monitor trends and identify key issues.

PACKAGING
Thorntons is continually striving to reduce its environmental impact, particularly through packaging and waste reduction. The Easter 2009 range is a perfect example of where this has been achieved. In the space of a year, Thorntons has reduced its packaging weight across its core Easter range by 22% - a saving of 73 tonne. All cartons for the range were produced from FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified carton-board, biodegradable film was used for all twist-wrapped eggs and Easter egg plastic formers contained a minimum of 50% recycled material.

Through assessing its purchasing policies, Thorntons has already made progress in sourcing FSC approved materials for cartons and phasing out the use of polyvinyl chloride. Now all cartons for seasonal products are produced using FSC certified board, all plastic formers contain a minimum of 50% recycled material and Thorntons no longer uses PVC in new product developments.

Package reduction, sourcing and recycling are three of the key issues Thorntons is continually addressing.

TRANSPORT
We have taken a number of initiatives in goods transport to reduce the impact of our products on the environment. These initiatives are principally designed to reduce fuel consumption through improved efficiency of vehicles or their movements. We have recently purchased more fuel efficient and low emission vehicles, which exceed current European emission requirements. The vehicle manufacturer has also provided training to drivers on more efficient driving methods.

As regards lorry movements we have introduced back hauling of cardboard from the retail stores in empty vehicles returning to our production site. We are also making use of "thermal containers" in our trailers. These containers are frozen at our production site and loaded onto vehicles at the last possible moment. As chiller units are not required, fuel efficiency increases and there is more efficient utilisation of space within the trailer.

Over the next six months we are beginning a project to reduce the frequency of deliveries, fuel costs and consumption by reviewing the mix of vehicles used and ensuring that wherever possible full loads are carried. We will also be examining the case for using biofuels through an assessment of the overall environmental benefit over the lifecycle of the product.

External issues

ENVIRONMENT
During the last year, our priorities for improving our environmental performance have been in the areas of waste management and energy use. For waste management, we set up teams to identify waste reduction opportunities. As a result we have entered into an integrated waste management contract with our waste contractor and improved both the segregation and the proportion of waste recycled, including plastic wrapping, sheets and moulds, metal straps and cardboard. Although this has required new equipment, there has been a net reduction in our waste costs. Also, cardboard generated in our retail outlets is being sent to our production site at Thornton Park in the returning empty lorries.

At our production site we have taken a number of initiatives to reduce energy consumption by, for example, reducing compressed air leaks, installing a daylight trigger on lighting in the packing area and changing to high frequency battery chargers. We have also spent approximately £100,000 on a new energy efficient compressor with improved capacity and have been championing a change in staff behaviour through a sticker and poster campaign reminding staff to turn off lights and computers when not in use. This is followed up with occasional reminders and newsletter articles. Looking forward, we are examining the feasibility of cogeneration of electricity and process steam on site.

Next year, at our 380 retail stores, we have a programme to replace the lighting and we are taking the opportunity to install energy efficient fittings and lamps. We have also embarked on a programme to replace our air conditioning equipment in 100 stores with energy efficient equipment. This will also be phasing out R22 refrigerant by 2010. We have also been trialling a bio-treatment process for reducing both the chemical oxygen demand and suspended solids content of our effluent waste which, if successful, will reduce both costs and the environmental impact. Our environment team is additionally assessing the feasibility of composting our kitchen waste.

Other community issues

A staff fundraising committee is actively involved in raising money for children's charities. Last year the committee raised £22,000 for Barnardo's by co-ordinating a range of initiatives including sponsorship from suppliers for runners in a marathon and arranging collection points in stores. Another project is raising money for The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association through sponsorship of participants in, for example, the Coniston challenge. It is the policy of the Board not to make any political donations.