The Board has responsibility for managing the business to promote its success, and having regard to how its decisions and events impact its stakeholders, engaging with and supporting them appropriately.
The Directors of the Company are required by Section 172 of the Companies Act 2006 to act in a way that promotes the success of the Company for the benefit of stakeholders as a whole and in doing so, they must also have regard to wider expectations of responsible business behaviour, specifically:
• the likely consequences of any decision in the long term;
• the interests of the Company’s people;
• the need to foster the Company’s business relationships with suppliers, customers and others;
• the impact of the Company’s operations on the community and the environment;
• the desirability of the Company maintaining a reputation for high standards of business conduct; and
• the need to act fairly between members of the Company.
The Board understands the importance of engagement with its key stakeholders as only in this way can it truly understand their needs and concerns to support its decision making, and the likely impact of those decisions on each stakeholder group. The Company uses a variety of methods to engage, both formally and informally, believing that much can be gained from personal interaction.
The Board acknowledges that situations may arise where stakeholder groups have conflicting priorities. In these circumstances the Board seeks to understand the needs and priorities of each group, and assess them individually and collectively from the perspective of achieving its strategic objectives and the long-term sustainable success of the business.
Following consideration of the information contained within Stakeholders and Engagement, and all other activities and undertakings detailed in this Annual Report, the Board considers it has fulfilled its duty in respect of Section 172, both individually and collectively, and that it has acted in the way it considers would be most likely to promote the success of the Company for the benefit of its members as a whole (having regard to the stakeholders and matters set out in s172(1) (a) to (f) of the Act) in the decisions taken during the year ended 31 December 2022.