Example of a “Yes” value:

Whistles Ltd, MSA Statement 2020, p.10-11

"At the same time some industry business models can have a direct effect on increasing the risk of modern slavery occurring in our supply chain.

For this very reason, in 2018 Whistles voluntarily joined the Better Buying initiative in order to scrutinise their own purchasing practices and assess how their business model might impact supply chain partners.

We are continuing our work to improve purchasing practices across the group and the upcoming year will also see us collaborating with industry peers to align methodologies.

• We know that unrealistic expectations about lead times can cause suppliers to slip on their ethical standards in order to meet high-pressure expectations from clients. As such, we talk with them to understand what deadlines are realistically possible to meet.
• We ensure our ethical trade policy is prioritised over any cuts on delivery speed and price and align our procurement practices in line with these standards.
• We discuss payment schedules and margins with suppliers, and ensure we make payments on time.
• We ask suppliers about their use of sub-contractors, recruiters and brokers in order to have visibility of supply chains.

We believe that business model related factors must be tackled hand-in-hand with our suppliers. It must be a joint effort, where parties involved trust each other and reciprocate with honesty and openness. In addition, we are conducting further analysis of areas of our business where there is migrant labour, high presence of refugees, home workers, young workers and a risk of the use of child labour, contract and temporary workers, women workers, and outsourced recruitment agencies."