Disclaimers

Environmental Policy

Scope

This policy applies to all Manchester Growth Company (MGC) employees, associates, secondees, agency staff and third parties who undertake activity for and on behalf of MGC and NE. It applies to the goods and services we procure, our direct operations and the services we provide to our customers.

MGC operates within a suite of interdependent policies and their procedures, which are implemented collectively in order to deliver the objectives of the Environmental Policy.

Purpose

To provide an effective framework for realising MGC’s commitment to protecting and where possible enhancing the environment by reducing the Group’s environmental impacts, preventing pollution, mitigating and adapting to climate change and a low carbon future.

Responsibilities

All employees including associates, secondees, agency staff and third parties are responsible for ensuring that this Policy is adhered to. In addition those employees who procure goods and services should follow MGC’s Procurement Policy including the requirement to include social value considerations which include environmental issues.

As referenced some activities within the scope of this Policy are covered by additional dedicated policies and procedures to ensure that the objectives of this Policy are delivered.

Policy

MGC is a group of companies that works in partnership with others to enable growth, create jobs and improve the lives of residents and local communities. The Group delivers activities across six service areas: Strategy & Research, Business Support & Finance, Skills, Employment, Marketing and Organisation Development Services. With over 1,000 employees across 40 sites the Group recognises that its activities impact the environment in a number of ways, principally through our use of:

• energy:
• in the buildings we occupy, and
• business travel,
• information communication technology hardware (ICT)
• paper

In recognising this, MGC is committed to protecting the environment and continually improving its environmental performance by:

• ensuring compliance with all relevant legislation and standards, and the expectations of our customers and other key stakeholders
• ensuring our systems and procedures prevent pollution
• ensuring our suppliers are able and are encouraged to support our environmental commitments
• ensuring we continually review how we can make improvements to our environmental performance

Specifically we will:

• reduce energy consumption across our estate through staff awareness and improved controls
• reduce business travel miles through better journey planning
• reduce paper consumption through staff awareness and increased use of electronic communication and data storage
• rationalise our use of ICT hardware and ensure that all waste electrical & electronic equipment is reused or recycled where possible

In order for MGC to realise these commitments, environmental performance is driven by the monthly Cost Review Group, which is chaired by the Chief Operating Officer, and reports into MGC Senior Management Team. The Cost Review Group works to reduce these key environmental impacts by addressing the findings:

• from our energy audit, which quantified our carbon emissions, and the actions needed to reduce them
• from our travel audit, which analysed our grey fleet travel patterns and emissions
• from paper audit, which analysed usage by individual, department and company and associated impacts from photocopying

In addition there are specific policies that address the individual environmental impacts:

• from our use of ICT hardware via a Disposal Policy, which covers data security and recycling
• from our business mileage via a Staff Expenses Policy, which encourages journey planning and alternative modes of transport
• from our company cars, the Policy for which limits CO2 emissions to 120g/km
• from our suppliers through our adoption of the Greater Manchester Sustainable Procurement

Framework

To realise our environmental objectives MGC both recognises the need for and is committed to communicating our environmental objectives to our suppliers, employees, customers and wider stakeholders. This is achieved via our procurement processes, and our existing communication channels to employees including the business plan, intranet, Cost Review Group, newsletters, team briefings and the staff induction processes.

This policy and the actions arising from it will be annually reviewed as part of the business planning process which involves MGCs senior leadership and management teams, the Cost Review Group, with final approval via the MGC Board.

Sustainability Policy

Scope

This policy applies to all Manchester Growth Company (MGC) employees, associates, secondees, agency staff and third parties who undertake activity for and on behalf of MGC. It applies to the goods and services we procure, our direct operations and the services we provide to our customers.

MGC is committed to creating a sustainable society actively managing our operations in a way that balances our social, environmental and economic objectives. To do this, sustainability considerations are woven throughout a suite of interdependent polices and their procedures, which are implemented collectively in order to deliver the objectives of the Sustainability Policy.

Purpose

To provide an effective framework for realising MGC’s commitment to creating a sustainable society by protecting and where possible enhancing the Groups social, environmental and economic impacts, preventing pollution, reducing social inequality and driving sustainable economic development as part of a transition to a low carbon future.

Responsibilities

All employees including associates, secondees, agency staff and third parties are responsible for ensuring that this Policy is adhered to. In addition those employees who procure goods and services should follow MGC’s Procurement Policy including the requirement to include social value considerations which mirror our sustainability objectives.

As referenced some activities within the scope of this Policy are covered by additional dedicated policies and procedures to ensure that the objectives of this Policy are delivered.

Policy

MGC is not for profit group of responsible companies that work in partnership with others to enable growth, create jobs and improve the lives of residents and local communities. The Group delivers activities across six service areas: Strategy & Research, Business Support & Finance, Skills, Employment, Marketing and Organisation Development Services. With over 1,000 employees across 40 sites the Group recognises that its activities have wide ranging and interconnected impacts on the economy, environment and society.

In recognising this, MGC is committed to contributing to a more sustainable society and to continually

improve the positive impacts we make by:

• ensuring compliance with all relevant legislation and standards, and the expectations of our customers and other key stakeholders
• ensuring our systems and procedures prevent pollution, and minimise resource consumption
• ensuring our employees and suppliers are able and are encouraged to support our sustainability commitments
• ensuring we continue to develop services which meet the needs of those customers who are often less able to participate in mainstream services
• ensuring we continually review how we can make improvements to our sustainability performance

In order for MGC to realise these commitments, sustainability performance is driven by the Chief Executive and Group’s Senior Management Team, through our:

• Agreed Shared Values, namely: Make a positive difference; Stronger together; Empower people; Do the right thing and Build on success
• Investors in People standard, Health and Wellbeing initiatives and our Reward and Recognition programmes we support, encourage and enable all employees to meaningfully contribute
• Equality and Diversity policy and two ticks positive about disability status we are committed to action on equal opportunities
• Service offer, ensuring it targets and supports those customers who are least able to access mainstream service provision
• Travel Policy which encourages journey planning, use of alternative modes of transport, limits CO2 emissions from company cars and operates a Bike to Work scheme
• ICT Disposal Policy which covers reuse, recycling and the associated data security issues
• Environmental Policy which covers energy, waste and paper usage
• Monitoring and reporting of our CO2 emissions
• Inclusion of Social Value requirements into our procurement policy

To realise our sustainability objectives MGC both recognises the need for and is committed to communicating these objectives to our suppliers, employees, customers and wider stakeholders. This is achieved via our procurement processes, and our existing communication channels to employees including the business plan, intranet, Cost Review Group, newsletters, team briefings and the staff induction processes.

This policy and the actions arising from it will be annually reviewed as part of the business planning process which involves MGCs senior leadership and management teams, the Cost Review Group, with final approval via the MGC Board.

Social Value Policy

Scope

We are committed to creating a sustainable inclusive society actively managing our operations in ways which optimise our value to the communities in which we work. Social Value is therefore intrinsic to everything we do, for this reason we manage Social Value through a suite of interdependent policies and procedures which collectively deliver our objectives.

This policy applies to all Manchester Growth Company employees, associates, secondees, agency staff and third parties who undertake activity for and on our behalf. It applies to the goods and services we procure, our direct operations and the services we provide to our customers.

Purpose

We are a Values based organisation whose purpose is to deliver growth with passion; creating a future where everyone has the chance of a better quality of life, through new skills, investment and opportunity. Our staff promote, influence, train, explore and advise to deliver maximum benefit for the communities in which we work.

This policy provides an effective framework for realising our commitment to maintaining and where possible enhancing the Social Value we create in the communities we work within, both as an employer and a provider of services.

Responsibilities

All employees, associates, secondees, agency staff and third parties are responsible for ensuring that this Policy is adhered to in accordance with our shared Values: Make a positive difference; Stronger together; Empower people; Do the right thing and Build on success.

As referenced some activities within the scope of this Policy are covered by additional dedicated policies and procedures to ensure that our Social Value objectives are delivered.

Policy

We are a not for profit group driving forward economic development within localities by boosting investment, skills, employment and enterprise to benefit the lives of residents and the wider community.

We deliver activities across five service areas: Business Support & Finance, Skills, Employment, Marketing and Organisation Development Services. With over 1,000 employees across 40 sites we recognise that our activities have wide ranging and interconnected impacts on the Social Value we generate in the communities we serve.

In recognising this we are committed to contributing to a more sustainable society and to continually improve the positive impacts we make. As an anchor institution we recognise the contribution we can make to increasing social value through our own direct impact as a large employer. Our impact can be categorised in terms of four key areas:

1. Our supply chain and the goods and services we buy

We use our purchasing power to support, influence and secure social value from our suppliers, and we ask our suppliers how they can support our six key Social Value objectives, namely: promote employments and economic sustainability; promote equity and fairness and raise the living standards of local residents; promote participation and citizen engagement; build capacity and sustainability of the voluntary and community sectors and promote environmental sustainability. This forms part of our evaluation process.

2. Our environmental impact

We have identified the key aspects where we have a negative impact on the environment, namely: heating and cooling, travel to clients, IT and paper; and we have a policy and systems in place to manage and reduce these impacts.

3. Our organisational development

We use our apprenticeship and traineeship policy to ensure roles are designed such that the broadest possible range of residents can apply and are advertised in ways to ensure they are aware of the opportunities. We use a web based recruitment portal to capture a broad spectrum of information from those who apply for roles including where they live and how far they progress in the process. This information feeds into our Equality, Diversion and Inclusion Steering group which oversees the development and delivery of all related policies, systems and procedures. On joining the company staff are able to access a structured learning and development programme to increase their knowledge and skills and benefit from our comprehensive Reward and Recognition programme.

These areas are covered by a range of separate interlinked polices including Environment, Sustainability, Procurement and a suite of HR polices and standards including Investors in People and Disability Confident.

4. Our support for our local communities

In addition, we can make a positive difference through the services we provide by:

• ensuring we continue to develop services which meet the needs of those customers who are often less able to participate in mainstream support
• ensuring we continually review how we can make improvements to the Social Value we create in the communities we support.

This includes supporting:

• people to enter or return to the labour market after periods of exclusion
• people to realise their potential in higher paid roles by increasing their skills
• businesses to grow and connect with their communities while reducing environmental impact
• businesses to grow and develop creating good jobs in good companies
• businesses to buy locally wherever possible
• employers to develop and retain their staff in fulfilling roles
• employers to recruit staff from local or excluded communities

In order for us to realise these commitments, we have an Inclusive Growth steering group which has senior representation from across the Group reporting to our Internal Transformation Programme Board and Senior Management Team. This feeds into our planning processes and ultimately the Business Plan. The steering group acts as a central point bringing together relevant work streams from HR, marketing and communications, employee consultation, organisational development and the senior leadership team.

To realise our Social Value objectives we recognise the need for and are committed to communicating these objectives to our suppliers, potential and existing employees, customers and wider stakeholders. This is achieved via our procurement and recruitment processes and our existing communication channels including the Business Plan, intranet, employee consultative committee, newsletters, team briefings, staff induction processes and stakeholder engagement.

This policy and the actions arising from it will be annually reviewed as part of the business planning process which involves MGCs senior leadership and management teams with final approval via the MGC Board.