MSA Consultation Process
About the data
The Australian Modern Slavery Act 2018 requires companies to describe how it consulted on its statement with any entities it owns or controls. If it is a “Joint Statement”, the company will need to describe how it consulted with each reporting entity described as part of the group statement.
There is no specific criteria for what 'consultation' means, but it must be clear that this consultation has occurred and is sufficient to ensure that the modern slavery risks relating to other entities have been appropriately identified, assessed and addressed and that other entity is aware of what actions they need to take. Companies that do not own or control any other entities do not need to respond to this criterion. Likewise, larger companies that may own or control other entities that do not have actual physical operations or assets (ie a company that may perform a group-wide treasury function) does also not have to describe detailed consultation.
See Australian Guidance for Reporting Entities, p. 57 for more details.
Methodology
This metric is asking whether the company has consulted with any owned or controlled entities to produce its Modern Slavery Act statement.
This consultation could include descriptions of:
- regular meetings between each entity's sustainability or procurement or other relevant teams to discuss the statement
- review of the statement by other entities
- opportunity for other entities to input into the statement
- briefings for the boards of the other entities on the statement
- the reporting entity’s senior management being aware of the content and development of the statement
Such a statement would often be found at either the beginning or the end of the statement. In the case of Joint Statements, this would more likely be found at the end of the statement in the context of the approval of the statement.
If a company clearly describes consultation with its owned or controlled entities to prepare the statement, please select the "Yes" value.
Note that approval from owned or controlled entities is not sufficient for a "Yes" value as this approval is measured by another metric.
If a company has previously mentioned in its statement that it owns or controls any entities but does not disclose having consulted with them, please select the “No” value.
However, if a company does not disclose owning or controlling other entities, please select the "Not Applicable" value.
Similarly, if a company discloses that it owns or control entities but these do not have any physical operations or assets (this could be a holding company), please select “Not Applicable”.
While this forms part of mandatory criteria for the Australian Modern Slavery Act 2018, it would also be considered good practice for the UK Modern Slavery Act.