T9: Structure and Governance
SDG Goal - 16
Legal structure of the organisation and its approach to Governance
C25 - Is the housing provider registered with the national regulator of social housing?
Aster Group is a charitable registered society, registered with the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH).
C26 - What is the housing provider's most recent regulatory grading/status?
We hold the highest possible ratings for governance (G1) and viability (V1) which was reaffirmed by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) in November 2024. (We have not yet been assessed in terms of our gradings against the Consumer Standards).
This evidences that we are a well-governed and financially resilient business, with capacity to mitigate our risk effectively. This ensures that we can continue to meet our social purpose and provide secure affordable homes for our customers, while also investing in improving those homes and the services that we provide. The strength of our financial position and our governance (particularly our ability to manage risks effectively) enables us to continue to develop desperately needed new affordable homes.
C27 - Which Code of Governance does the housing provider follow, if any?
Our governance framework is structured on the UK Corporate Governance Code. This is a set of principles of good corporate governance that we follow in our governance arrangements, including those around Board leadership and effectiveness, remuneration, accountability and stakeholder relations.
Whilst we recognise that other providers choose to use the National Housing Federation's (NHF) Code of Governance, we believe that the UK Corporate Governance Code provides us with enhanced accountability, transparency, and oversight across our Group structure, and enables us to effectively manage risks and ensure compliance. We recognise the strong controls and culture of governance that the UK Corporate Governance Code instils, and the benefits this brings. We also recognise however that there are elements of the NHF Code of Conduct that are stronger for our sector. We seek to harness these elements in areas such as customer engagement and social purpose, and ensure that this is built into our internal controls to help us remain compliant with the Consumer Standards set by the Regulator of Social Housing.
C28 - Is the housing provider a Not-For-Profit?
Aster Group is not-for-profit provider of social housing, with our surplus being reinvested into meeting our corporate vision and purpose.
C29 - Explain how the housing provider’s board manages ESG risks. Are ESG risks incorporated into the housing provider’s risk register?
Our Risk Framework takes an enterprise risk management approach. It’s a way of working that enables us to recognise, and consider responses to, uncertainties and obstacles as they arise. It supports the exploration of potential opportunities arising from changes in both the internal and external environment. By working like this, we can successfully navigate through situations, achieving our goals and overcoming threats to success.
We know that risk management is an integral part of good management practice. It is integrated into our strategic and service planning processes and performance management, with a Risk Register maintained and regularly discussed.
Our Operating Environment and Horizon Risk Map includes themed sections for Environmental and for Societal/Sector. Our Strategic Risk Themes (principal risks) include Investment in Homes and Sustainability, Regulatory Standing and Customer Satisfaction and wider perception, among others. Specific strategic and operational risks are identified under these themes, including risks relating to the environment and to continued good governance. Each risk is fully assessed and appropriate responses and management plans are put in place and monitored.
Our Compliance Register contains all laws, regulations, sector standards and codes of practice applicable to Aster across environmental, governance and social responsibility and our plans for meeting these.
The Aster Group Ltd Board ensure ESG risks are managed appropriately, and are supported by our Committees and wider governing bodies including the Group Risk & Assurance Committee.
C30 - Has the housing provider been subject to any adverse regulatory findings in the last 12 months (data protection breaches, bribery, money laundering, HSE breaches etc.) - that resulted in enforcement or other equivalent action?
We have not been subject to any adverse regulatory findings during the 2024/25 financial year or since the 2025/26 financial year commenced.
T10: Board and Trustees
High quality board of trustees
SDG Goal - 16
As noted at C21 (relating to arrangements in place to enable customers to hold management to account for the provision of our services), we want our customer groups to be at the heart of our oversight and decision making at Aster. Our Customer Voice Committee was launched as a formal committee of the board, ensuring that resident voice is heard at the board and senior management levels. The Customer Voice Committee is supported by a Customer Scrutiny Panel and a Designated Complaints Panel, which are made up of, and chaired by, customers.
Through our Governance report template, report writers are encouraged to recognise any customer and colleague consultation that has taken place on the topic prior to the report being written and specifically prompts the report writer to consider all issues around diversity and inclusion. This provides boards and committees with insight and assurance about where diverse voices have been heard as part of any report.
Our approach to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) is more generally captured later in our response at C42 (“How is the housing provider ensuring equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) is promoted across its staff?”) and this is embedded for all board members as well as colleagues. All Directors (regardless of being independent Non-Executive Directors or not) follow the same mandatory training process as colleagues and agree to align with our policies. Upon appointment, all independent Non-Executive Directors agree to uphold and promote the core policies, purpose, values and objectives of the Group, with specific reference made to including our commitment to diversity and equal opportunities. This is furthered through our Board and Committee Code of Conduct, which specifies behaviours expected from members of any board and committee including in relation to Equality and Diversity.
We started our recruitment campaign for independent Non-Executive Directors in the 24/25 financial year, and collaborated with an external agency to support that recruitment and increase its reach. We embedded references to our commitment to EDI throughout our recruitment, for example, within our reference to The Aster Way when advertising the role: “The Aster Way is not just a set of words. It’s a shared understanding of the way Aster works – creating a fair and inclusive culture. It’s a set of straightforward principles that underpin everything we do, every day. From how employees lead and learn, to how they collaborate, communicate, and innovate, this is how Aster will reach its vision – that everyone has a home’.”
Diversity of the Board
The Aster Group Limited Board is made up as follows:
40% of our Board are women
10% of our Board are BAME
We have no residents, where known.
We have no one with disabilities, where known.
The average age of our board is 58.
20% of Aster Group Limited Board have turned over in the last two years (ending 31 March 2025). This equates to two members – Mike Biles (our Chair) and Andrew Kluth. From 3 November 2023 Stephen Trusler took over as Chair and Mehul Desai as a Non-Executive Director. For more information as to the make up of our Board, please see here: The Overlap Boards.
Taking our Senior Management Team to mean our Executive Board Directors, we have had a 0% turnover in the last two years. For more information about our Executive Board, please see here: Our Executive Board.
Our Group Risk and Assurance Committee (GRAC) was made up of eight members in total at the start of the financial year. Four were independent Non-Executive Directors, who are members of our Aster Group Ltd Board, and four are Independent Committee Members. During the financial year, two of the independent Committee Members' terms ended, with GRAC’s membership reducing to six.
Of these members, two Non-Executive Directors have recent and relevant financial experience. One Independent Committee Member has extensive audit experience.
70% (seven out of 10 members) of the Aster Group Limited Board are independent Non-Executive Directors, bringing significant amounts of skills, expertise and scrutiny to the board. More information about the individuals making up our Overlap Boards can be found here: Overlap boards.
The Board has approved a Board Membership, Recruitment and Succession Policy, and the Group People and Culture Committee (GPCC) routinely reviews the succession plan for the Overlap Boards and the Committees to facilitate future recruitment in a timely manner. The Committee works to ensure a continuous flow of talent is available through developing existing Directors and Independent Members, and also by identifying suitable external candidates to ensure a refreshing of talent and ideas, and the ongoing maintenance of skills.
When recruiting for new members, we map our Board skills with our strategy so that we can get a clear idea of what we are looking for and what each of them could bring to the collective. Our Board Skills Vision is a holistic set of criteria focusing on everything from fact-based judgements to emotional intelligence, teamwork and values. We recruit on cultural fit and value alignment, just as much as we do on experience.
The Board recognises that effective succession planning is not only a fundamental component of Board effectiveness but is also integral to the delivery of our strategic plans. It is essential in ensuring a continuous level of quality in management, avoiding instability by helping mitigate the risks which may be associated with any unforeseen events - such as the departure of a key individual - and promoting diversity.
KPMG has been auditing Aster Group's accounts for the last eight years. Our audit partner within KPMG has changed for the forthcoming financial year to ensure that the level of independent scrutiny remains at a high standard.
Our last independently-run board effectiveness review was carried out in March 2025 by Altair Ltd. The review covered not only Board and Committee Effectiveness, but also compliance with our adopted code of governance (the UK Corporate Governance Code 2018) and the implementation of the action plan from the governance review undertaken by Deloitte in 2023.
The review concluded that the recommendations from the previous independent governance review had been implemented or were moving towards completion in 2025. It noted that the governance structure and supporting frameworks and processes were compliant and effective. This was further supported by the updated assessment against the UK Corporate Code 2018, which shows that we continued to be compliant with the code, with only a small number of explainable or non-applicable elements.
Finally, the review confirmed that good governance continued to be embedded, with customers becoming more central to decision making and a review in progress to simplify the corporate structure to support governance transparency and accessibility.
We have a policy that sets out how we handle conflicts of interest at the Board, based on the Board Code of Conduct.
Our Board and Committee Code of Conduct sets out how we handle conflict of interests, recognising the duties that members owe, and how they must conduct themselves. Our agendas and recommendations always make it clear which entity Board is considering the items, to ensure transparency and ensure that any conflicts can be noted.
Recognising that we have charitable entities in our Group structure, the Code of Conduct also references the additional responsibilities for members of charitable entities.
The Code of Conduct also refers to what should happen if a conflict does arise, ultimately ensuring that members should act in the best interests of the Aster Group as a whole.
T11: Staff Wellbeing
Supports employees
SDG Goal - 8
We strive to pay our people fairly and provide both them and our customers with tools and resources to help manage their finances. While we don’t currently pay the Real Living Wage for all our colleagues, it is something that we are very aware of for the small number of colleagues who this relates to and are working towards realising this in the future.
2024 Gender Pay Gap (Mean)
Group combined 13.86% (decreased)
made up of:
- Aster Group 12.79% (decreased)
- Aster Communities 16.59% (decreased)
- Aster Property 10.00% (increased)
- Central & Cecil 8.22% (decreased)
- East Borough Housing Trust 23.61% (previously unreported)
- Enham Trust 8.83% (previously unreported)
In 2024 we completed an equal pay audit. The action plan following this review will help address the gaps identified, as will ongoing work to strengthen our apprenticeship, colleague, and leadership development programmes, including the launch of a Women in Leadership apprenticeship.
25th percentile - 12:03:1
50th percentile - 9:60:1 (median)
75th percentile - 7:58:1
We have assessed the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to Worker Pay Ratio based on option B of the BEIS methodology, which uses the Gender Pay Gap data to calculate the ratio in three steps.
The 2024 Executive Reward Survey run by reward consultants Inbucon, which contains data from 278 Social Housing organisations, reported that the average pay ratio between the Chief Executive pay and Employee pay was 3.97:1.
Although there is no direct comparable data, the median FTSE 100 CEO is now paid 120 times more than the median UK full-time worker. This ratio peaked at 124:1 in 2022, but is still a much larger ratio than the 108:1 that was calculated in 2021.
We continue to promote messages through internal comms channels to mark notable dates and raise awareness, as well as encouraging participation in our networks and activities. We use a range of media, including podcasts (such as one discussing lived experience of autism), and informative articles, (for instance, a spotlight on a colleague’s typical day during Ramadan).
We have five colleague networks (LGBTQ+, Race and Heritage, Carers, Disability Confident ‘EnAble’, and Gender) which act as safe spaces for colleagues of different backgrounds, and allies, to come together and help drive forward inclusion initiatives. Our colleague network membership has more than doubled over the last three years and colleagues value the opportunity to contribute to policy and decision-making, as well as raise awareness. Our EnAble network launched a quarterly, colleague-led magazine this year with colleagues contributing thought-provoking articles covering a range of disability topics.
We frequently run a range of sessions such as Inclusive Leadership, Active Inclusion (Unconscious Bias and Micro-behaviours), Disability Awareness, Allyship, and Race Fluency, as well as a variety of diversity and inclusion e-learning and resources (some mandatory) for all colleagues.
We have Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Principles which underpin our D&I Policy and support The Aster Way, our culture handbook, and restorative principles.
The Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Team work closely with the Learning and Organisational Development team over any areas of focus, and how to tailor delivery to different parts of the business. They also work with our People team to ensure relevant employment law changes are complied with and communicated, such as supporting the awareness campaign for the Worker Protection Act.
We have produced a number of D&I resources for colleagues, such as a ‘Language Matters’ inclusive language guide, ‘Access to Work’ guidance, ‘How to be an effective Aster Ally’ guide, and a ‘wheel of privilege’. These have been handed out at Welcome Days and are available on our intranet.
We externally benchmark ourselves every year via a tool called TIDE (‘Talent Inclusion and Diversity Evaluation’), available via our membership with enei (The Employer’s Network for Equality and Inclusion), and have also submitted evidence this year towards achieving a HouseProud Pledge accreditation.
The D&I team have an open-door policy - anyone can talk to anyone in the team about anything they want relating to D&I. This is aided by the team being trained as Level 2 Restorative Practice facilitators, which aids ‘adult’ and relational conversations.
Our people and our culture are our strength - we are focused on empowering our colleagues to thrive. To do this we focus on ensuring our employees are well, happy, and healthy, and therefore able to deliver their best service for our customers.
The health and wellbeing of colleagues continues to be a priority and we have a range of support on offer for Mental Health and Physical wellbeing:
Mental health
We’ve continued to partner with Plumm Health to provide colleagues with Mental Health support when they need it. It includes access to 1:1 video counselling/therapy sessions with accredited therapists, with appointments in as little as 24 hours; chat therapy via the platform; an AI wellbeing assistant to offer real-time mental health and personal growth support; unlimited access to a growing library of therapist-led psycho-educative digital courses; guided meditations; and live monthly workshops with access for family members. Plumm is both GDPR and HIPAA compliant, so all conversations are totally confidential and encrypted.
We have trained Mental Health First Aiders - colleagues that can spot the signs and symptoms of poor mental health and are armed with signposting information to help colleagues get the support they might need. We have a 24/7 employee assistance programme (EAP) in place which is a freephone telephone number to a counsellor available to all colleagues and a dedicated website full of tools and resources.
We run a number of live sessions on mental health including Increasing Emotional Resilience and Mental Health Champion training to arm colleagues with the tools to spot the signs and symptoms of poor mental health.
As part of our commitment to supporting mental health and wellbeing, we have also implemented Trauma Incident Management (TrIM) — a peer-delivered support system designed to assist colleagues who may be affected by potentially traumatic incidents in the workplace. Developed originally within the UK Armed Forces, TrIM is a structured yet flexible process that enables trained peer practitioners to identify colleagues who may benefit from early psychological support, fostering resilience and encouraging timely access to professional care when needed. By embedding TrIM into our wellbeing offer, we promote a proactive, stigma-free approach to mental health, particularly in high-pressure or critical roles.
Physical wellbeing
Colleagues have BUPA Cashplans, covering physiotherapy, chiropractic and osteopathy appointments up to £150, consultants appointments, routine tests/health checks and prescription charges. They also have access to BUPA physio, a nurse telephone helpline and a health hub of information and advice.
Our EAP gives access to a digital gym with bookable live workouts and recorded training plans for Pilates, yoga, injury prevention and menopause. We also have recorded yoga, Pilates and HIIT workouts via the Perkbox wellness hub, as well as recorded webinars on nutrition. As an accredited Menopause Friendly Employer we offer colleagues support, training and information to support them in this space.
Ensuring that our colleagues have the right professional development is important to us. In particular, we recognise the importance of supporting our Customer Services colleagues' learning and development to ensure that our customers benefit from that knowledge and skill through the services they receive from us. We are preparing for the Competence and Conduct Standard, and we have in place a Customer Service Learning Offer, which focuses on enabling Customer Service colleagues to develop their professional qualifications, skills, behaviours and knowledge to provide our customers with the best possible service. The offer also provides continual updates on regulatory changes and we ensure that we are continually learning from external insight and our complaints.
Our offer outlines some of the more general opportunities that are available to all colleagues such as qualifications, apprenticeships, coaching and mentoring, guidance and training. Since September 2024, we have spent £562,383 from the Apprenticeship Levy, and currently have 50 colleagues on an apprenticeship programme to upskill. This year we have refreshed our colleague learning offer and broken the offer down into easy to digest, tailored directorate offerings, making it easier for colleagues to find the learning and upskilling routes on offer as well as knowing what is expected of them from a mandatory learning point of view.
The Aster Way is a cultural programme that is a shared understanding of the way colleagues work, creating a fair and inclusive culture throughout the Group. It is a set of straightforward principles that underpin everything we do, every day, from how the Board leads and the business learns, to how colleagues collaborate, communicate, and innovate to enable us to achieve our vision - that everyone has a home. This is now aligned with Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) professional standards, supporting high-quality, ethical, and inclusive housing professionals.
We have started to look at skills mapping across the business and are in the process of implementing a new LMS/LXP software to help us to better understand our workforce and how we can plan for the future using the data we collect. We are also able look at performance management using this new system, which will form part of the requirements of the Competence and Conduct Standard.
We also look for opportunities to ensure that equality, diversity and inclusion is embedded into the professional development of colleagues. As an example of this, from July, we will be running our reverse mentoring programme, in which those from our diversity networks and those who have lived experience from and beyond the Equality Act, will mentor a member from our senior leadership team. This programme will enable honest and insightful conversations of difference, and to allow our senior leaders to champion being an advocate for equality, diversity and inclusion. Our CEO Bjorn Howard has also taken on the programme this year, hearing from colleagues across the business.
Our annual Aspiring Leaders cohort now also receive Inclusive Leadership training, thereby ensuring some of our future leaders have the knowledge and skills to embed inclusivity.
T12: Supply Chain Management
Procures responsibly
SDG Goal - 12
C45 - How is social value creation considered when procuring goods and services?
What measures are in place to monitor the delivery of this Social Value?
When we procure goods and services, we follow our procurement framework that comprises both internal governance and external regulations. These come together to ensure that social value is created when we procure goods and services, in line with policies, procedures, legislation and regulations including (but not limited to):
· Our Procurement and Contract Standing Orders policy and procedures
· Our Modern Slavery Policy and Statement
· The Procurement Act 2023 (PA 2023)
· The Public Contracts Regulations (PCR2015)
· The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012
The Procurement Act 2023 came into force within the 2024/25 financial year and our policies, procedures, documentation and reporting have been updated to reflect the requirements within this legislation. We welcomed the introduction of the Most Advantageous Tender (MAT) as the basis for contract awards, as this allows for a broader assessment of overall value, including social, environmental and community benefits. We welcome and recognise its alignment to the National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS), which promotes objectives such as supporting local business, improving supplier diversity and driving social value.
How we create and monitor delivery of social value:
Social Value (SV) must be considered in all over-threshold procurements (in line with The Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012. We include SV as an evaluation criterion and up to 10% weighting is given. The weighting and the content of the criteria is appropriate and proportionate to the contract subject matter, term, and value. To do this, within our tenders we will request that bidders:
- provide details of how Modern Slavery and Responsible Procurement is monitored within their organisations and supply chains.
- provide information about activities, the social value created and how this is measured, in line with Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012. This includes what benefits will be delivered to the communities that bidders will be working in, what skills and training or employment opportunities will be created, and specific community initiatives that will be delivered during the contract term.
- provide information on how they support social enterprises or SMEs within a supply chain.
We partnered with Procurement for Housing (PfH) to benefit from 15 frameworks ensuring that we are procuring goods in a way that maximises value for money. This includes generating social value: for example, £66,950 in social value rebates was accrued across all materials merchants procured via PfH, and an additional £66,583 was paid by PfH to the Aster Foundation in social value rebates in 2024/25 (see our Aster Foundation Impact Report). This donation supports the Aster Foundation in delivering its vision of enabling better lives, funding short-term initiatives and longer-term impact programmes focused on addressing the biggest causes and effects of poverty - including mental wellness and social connectivity, removing barriers to employment and improving financial inclusivity. In particular, it meant that between April and October 2024:
- 870 people were supported through financial inclusion initiatives.
- £467,465 in external benefits was accessed by beneficiaries following support given.
- 133 “Hampers to Help” were provided to people in need of support due to being in fuel poverty.
- 441 individuals were directly supported and trained relating to mental wellness.
- 158 individuals within our communities took courses such as Mental Health First Aid and Building Emotional Resilience.
- 35 individuals received focused one-to-one counselling.
- 36 people benefitted from our ADHD specific support and coaching.
- 4 communal green spaces were improved.
- 144 individuals accessed employment support.
- 11 individuals gained employment through direct assistance from our Into Work Officer.
- 211 individuals were supported through volunteer projects.
- 50 volunteers contributed their time, with 201 hours volunteered across 20 community activities.
Aster Group has worked with its suppliers to promote charitable donations to the Aster Foundation through social value contributions, equating to £109,000. These donations were made independently to the Aster Foundation to support and continue its charitable objectives - enabling better lives.
We are continually looking at how we can increase our social value creation and throughout 2024/25 we carried out an internal audit of our contract management. This is being used to further strengthen our approach to contract management (including social value) with changes being implemented within the current financial year.
We have also worked to further develop our approach to increasing our social impact, and are establishing social impact priorities aligning with our local communities to maximise social value this current financial year.
C46 - How is sustainability considered when procuring goods and services?
What measures are in place to monitor the sustainability of your supply chain when procuring goods and services?
As noted in the previous response, we do include an environmental weighting where it is appropriate to do so. Specific examples of how we considered sustainability when procuring goods and services in the 2024/25 financial year include:
1. Materials Supply:
We work in close partnership with PfH and a network of merchants committed to responsible sourcing and environmental stewardship. These merchants have embedded sustainability into their procurement strategies, operations, and supply chains, supporting our ESG objectives through a range of initiatives and measurable practices.
Key elements of the strategy include:
- Use of Recycled and Certified Materials
Merchants prioritise products made from recycled content and those certified to recognised standards such as FSC, PEFC, and ISO 14021. Examples include copper tubing made from 100% recycled copper, recyclable polybutylene pipes and fittings, and timber products sourced in compliance with EUTR regulations.
- Localised Sourcing to Enhance Social Value
Many merchants source products from suppliers located near their distribution branches, reducing transport emissions and supporting local economies. This approach contributes to community benefit through employment and supply chain engagement.
- Circular Economy and Recycling Initiatives
Merchants have implemented recycling schemes for materials such as pumps, packaging, and electronic waste. These schemes reduce landfill dependency and promote reuse, with some merchants offering in-branch recycling facilities and compliant disposal services for customers including Aster Group.
- Carbon Reduction and Fleet Decarbonisation
Merchants are actively transitioning their fleets to hybrid and electric vehicles, monitoring fuel usage, and consolidating deliveries to reduce emissions. Some have replaced nearly half of their fleet with low-emission vehicles and introduced staff incentives such as Cycle2Work schemes.
- Innovation and Product Stewardship
Sustainable products are promoted through merchant campaigns and customer engagement. These include water-saving valves, energy-efficient heating components, and waste-reducing devices. Merchants also work with suppliers to improve packaging and reduce environmental impact.
- Monitoring and Performance Measurement
Environmental performance is tracked through internal audits, fuel and waste monitoring, and annual policy reviews. Merchants are developing enhanced reporting capabilities, including carbon assessments and ESG dashboards, to support transparency and continuous improvement.
- Framework Alignment
Merchants are aligned with framework requirements such as those set out by PfH, including Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs), carbon offsetting strategies, and social value reporting.
2. Provision of Energy (Gas and Electricity):
We maximised opportunities for competitive pricing and mitigated the risk of price surges through a procurement exercise for the provision of energy. Throughout this process we considered sustainability to ensure that we secured the best financial and environmental outcomes. This included a carbon saving of 530 tonnes per annum (alongside a 16.9% financial saving compared to the current contract).
3. Sewage Treatment Plants:
In 2024, we procured and awarded a contract for the cyclical routine maintenance and non-scheduled maintenance/repair works of our 76 foul water infrastructure assets (Sewage Treatment Plants, septic tanks and pumping stations) and associated effluent disposal.
Routine maintenance is required to ensure correct operation and compliance with Environment Agency discharge consents. We are also required to empty septic tanks to provide effluent disposal for properties served by these installations.
We assessed suppliers on various considerations, including environmental sustainability and social value. Key examples include:
- The contract was awarded to a private family-owned waste management company with a head office and operating locations within our own geographical footprint.
- The company specialises in the collection, treatment, recycling and disposal of waste types including household sewage.
- The company operates an in-house transportation network and treatment facilities – enabling them to operate from regional depots and reduce the environmental impact of their operations.
- The service engineers are British Water accredited, ensuring that the sites are adequately and correctly maintained to limit the potential impact on the local environment.
- Within the procurement process, we gave a 9% weighting to the question “Please set out how you will mitigate the environmental impact of the installations covered and services provided under this contract, taking account of operational delivery, pollution prevention and response, waste handling and disposal, and operational effectiveness of the installations along with how you will ensure the number of non-compliances with environmental permit conditions / the general binding rules is minimised (in so far that this is within your control).”
- We gave a 3% weighting to the question “Please provide an assessment of how your company's operations align with the ethos of the Social Value Act 2012 (improvement of economic, social and environmental wellbeing) and broader Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles, specifically focusing on your contributions to local communities, diversity and inclusion practices, environmental sustainability, and ethical governance. Your response should highlight any areas that relate specifically to the delivery of this Contract and demonstrate how you will consider and report on these throughout the life of the Contract.”
- Our minimum standards set out in the procurement required registration with the Environment Agency for waste transfer, an ISO14001 environmental management system certification (or equivalent), and the capability to deliver the contract in line with the British Water "Code of Practice" and all relevant British Standards.
