Avara Foods was formed in January 2018 and, in the months since then, our focus has been on establishing a single policy and supporting infrastructure to ensure that we meet our commitment to tackle modern slavery.

We have established an Avara Foods Human Rights and Ethical Steering Group, attended by senior leaders from across our business.  They meet on a quarterly basis to review and manage risks, and provide leadership and guidance to colleagues on this important and complex subject.

In addition, we have made the following progress:

• We have developed bespoke training for managers, covering Human Rights, Ethics and Modern Slavery.  To date, this has been successfully completed by 133 Managers.
• Directors have attended a dedicated Modern slavery session.
• 122 of our suppliers are AB Sedex members.
• Our modern slavery and ethical policies have been embedded in our supplier terms and conditions.
• Joined FNET (food network ethical trade).
• The Avara Foods whistleblowing helpline is in place and has been promoted with all colleagues.
• We have established an active relationship with the Gangmasters Licencing Authority (GLAA), utilising their robust alert mechanism.
• We have committed additional resource to the area of ethical compliance.
• We have continued to engage proactively with our customers and suppliers in this subject.

As a result of these initiatives, and the vigilance of our people, we successfully identified potential gangmaster activity with our agency labour provider and escalated it to the GLAA for further investigation and action.

This update refers to the financial period ending 31st May 2018.