Modern Slavery Act Statement
Satellite Applications Catapult (the Catapult) is one of a network of UK technology and innovation companies which aim to drive economic growth through the commercialisation of research. The Catapult is based at the Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire, and also operates facilities at Westcott Business Park in Buckinghamshire, and a number of regional centres of excellence and Space Enterprise Labs across the UK. The scope of this statement covers all UK operations.
Modern slavery is a crime and a violation of fundamental human rights. It takes various forms, such as slavery, servitude, forced and compulsory labour and human trafficking, all of which have in common the deprivation of a person’s liberty by another in order to exploit them for personal or commercial gain.
The Catapult are committed to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business dealings and relationships and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure modern slavery is not taking place anywhere in our own business or in any of our supply chains.
We are also committed to ensuring there is transparency in our own business and in our approach to tackling modern slavery throughout our supply chains, consistent with our disclosure obligations under the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
Supplier Adherence to our Values
The Catapult has zero tolerance to slavery and human trafficking and we expect our business partners, collaborators and all those in our supply chain and contractors to comply with our values.
We expect high standards from all of our contractors, suppliers and other business partners, and as part of our contracting processes, in the coming year we will include specific prohibitions against the use of forced, compulsory or trafficked labour, or anyone held in slavery or servitude, whether adults or children, and we expect that our suppliers will hold their own suppliers to the same high standards. To ensure all those in our supply chain and contractors comply with our values we have in place a rigorous supply chain compliance programme. This consists of a dedicated compliance team, which involves members from relevant functions across our organisation.
This also applies to all persons working for us or on our behalf in any capacity, including employees at all levels, directors, officers, agency workers, seconded workers, volunteers, interns, agents, contractors, external consultants, third-party representatives and business partners.
Our Effectiveness In Combating Slavery And Human Trafficking
Our Board of Directors has the overall responsibility for compliance with this statement, with the implementation of the controls and procedures resting within our Leadership team, with day-to-day implementation being devolved to everyone working with the supply chain and in industry collaboration. Our procedures for combatting modern slavery include, but are not limited to:
- Identifying and assessing potential risk areas in our supply chains
- Mitigating the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in our supply chains
- Monitoring potential risk areas in our supply chains
- Protecting whistle blowers
Training (L&D) And Reporting
To ensure a high level of understanding of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our procurement and supply chains within our business, we continue to aim to provide training to our budget holders and all relevant members of staff.
We will continue to provide training to our relevant teams to help them identify potential cases of slavery and human trafficking and how to report them and to raise awareness to our employees and our partners of the all of our obligations under the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
The Catapult aims to encourage openness and will support anyone who raises genuine concerns in good faith under this statement, even if they turn out to be mistaken. We are committed to ensuring no one suffers any detrimental treatment as a result of reporting in good faith their suspicion that modern slavery of whatever form is or may be taking place in any part of the business or in any of its supply chain.
We insist that employees must ensure that they read, understand and comply with our Anti-Slavery Policy. The prevention, detection and reporting of modern slavery in any part of our business or supply chains is the responsibility of all those working for us or under our control. Employees are required to avoid any activity that might lead to, or suggest, any non-compliance of our policy. Employees are required to notify their line manager and Human Resources as soon as possible if they believe or suspect that a conflict with the policy has occurred or may occur in the future.
Any employee found to be in non-compliance of the Anti-Slavery policy and this statement could face disciplinary action. Any suppliers or partners the Catapult engages who are found to have disregarded our terms around Anti-Slavery and this statement will have their relationship terminated.
Responsibility For Catapult’s Anti-Slavery Policy
The Company has, and takes seriously, our overall responsibility for ensuring that all within the organisation complies with our legal and ethical obligations. The Company has primary and day-to-day responsibility for implementing our Anti-Slavery Policy, monitoring its use and effectiveness, dealing with any queries about it and auditing internal control systems and procedures to ensure it is effective in countering modern slavery.
Management at all levels are responsible for ensuring those reporting to them understand and comply with our values around Anti-Slavery and are given adequate and regular training on it and the issue of modern slavery in supply chains.
This statement and policy is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending March 2021. This statement was approved on 07 July 2021 by the company’s Board of Directors who will review and update it annually.
Stuart Martin
Chief Executive Officer
Satellite Applications Catapult
