Modern slavery statement

Modern Slavery Act 2015 (the "2015 Act") requires organisations who meet certain criteria to publish an annual statement outlining the steps taken by the organisation to ensure slavery and human trafficking is not taking place within the organisation or in any of its supply chains.

The University of Dundee is an institution of higher education. Our core purpose is the transformation of lives by working locally and globally through the creation, sharing and application of knowledge.

We are committed to the principles of the 2015 Act and to ensuring that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our organisation or in our supply chains.

When entering into business contracts, we do so in accordance with our policies to ensure that our business relationships are conducted in an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable manner.

To identify and mitigate risks, we carry out due diligence on new suppliers. As a part of our procurement process we ask the bidders and new suppliers to accept the Sustain Supply Chain Code of Conduct and, if the contract value exceeds £50,000, also require bidders to complete a Single Procurement Document which contains specific disclosure requirements in relation to slavery and human trafficking. Using these documents allows us to ensure that our suppliers acknowledge and comply with our values.

We intend to take the following steps to mitigate any risks in our existing supply chains:

• identify supply chains which we consider most “at risk” in terms of slavery and human trafficking; and
• work with our suppliers to investigate these supply chains to ensure that no issues are present and that preventative measures are in place.

We are as an institution seeking to identify better and practicable processes in our procurement and business operations which will make a real difference in helping combat slavery and human trafficking. This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the 2015 Act and constitutes University of Dundee’s slavery and human trafficking statement.

For and on behalf of the University of Dundee.

Dr Jim McGeorge

(Chief Operating Officer)

2021 Update

Modern Slavery Act 2015 (the “2015 Act”) requires organisations who meet certain criteria to publish an annual statement outlining the steps taken by the organisation to ensure slavery and human trafficking is not taking place within the organisation or in any of its supply chains. S54(4) of the 2015 Act, states that an annual statement is:

(a) a statement of the steps the organisation has taken during the financial year to ensure that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place -

(i) in any of its supply chains, and

(ii) in any part of its own business."

Completed Activity

Efforts to ensure contracted suppliers adhere to the Sustain Supply Chain Code of Conduct continued with all suppliers to new contracts in excess of £50,000 undertaken by the Procurement Team being asked to sign-up to the code as part of the tendering process. Category Managers are required to include specific sustainability considerations in all Contract Strategies and Reports over and above adherence to the Sustain Supply Chain Code of Conduct. The Contract Strategy and Report templates have been updated to support this requirement.

All Procurement staff attended the mandatory ‘Social Issues in Procurement’ training session delivered by APUC and complete the ‘Intro to Sustainable Procurement’ e-learning module offered by HEPA.

Despite global shortages of PPE as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the University ensured any PPE purchased for both staff and students was of the appropriate certification and came from contracted suppliers with established supply chains. This reduced the possibility of purchasing PPE that was either uncertified or came from supply chains that may have utilised poor practices regarding employee welfare.

Future Activity

The work below was planned to be undertaken in 2021, however it was not possible to complete the analysis due to the impact of COVID-19. The planned activities will be rolled over to the 2022 reporting year.

Category Managers plan to undertake analysis of ‘at risk’ supply chains as part of their Category Analysis and Plan development. One or more of these Category supply chains will be prioritised and evaluated in detail to ensure procedures exist at all levels of the supply chain to mitigate the risk of modern slavery-related activities being in place.

Category Managers will be required to complete the HEPA ‘A Guide to Modern Slavery’ and the CIPS ‘Ethical Procurement and Supply’ e-learning modules as part of their 2021/22 CPD.

Where appropriate, we will supplement our own efforts with activities already being progressed by APUC. See the APUC Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement and Electronics Watch for reference.