Annual Report 2017

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112 Rothschild & Co | Annual Report 2017
Corporate Social Responsibility
The following are just a few examples of the ways in which we made a
contribution in 2017:
Tutoring with The Access Project in the UK
The Access Project matches motivated students from economically
disadvantaged backgrounds with high-flying graduates for weekly one-to-
one tutorials with the aim of raising the students’ grades to enable them
to apply to top-tier universities. This year at Rothschild & Co’s London
office more than 40 volunteers tutored students for an hour each week,
primarily in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths subjects. Students
participating in Access Project tutoring are 13 percentage points more
likely to be placed at a top third university than those from a matched
control group.
Careers inspiration in Germany
Colleagues in Germany worked this year on a career pathways project
with Salzmannschule, a Frankfurt school with a higher than normal
percentage of disadvantaged students. Volunteers led visits to raise
awareness of local employment opportunities, including a trip for
20 students to see behind the scenes at the local Opel plant where
they learned about a range of careers in automotive mechanics and
mechatronics as well as finding out about the history of Opel, the
founder and his family and its market position today.
The students were shown the whole car manufacturing process, from
concept origination to the realisation of the final product, and were
enthusiastic and keen to find out more about the available jobs and
pathways to achieving them. One student described the event as
“a great excursion – an informative and exciting morning which has
given me some new perspectives”.
Sharing professional skills in France
Employees in France continued to develop their partnership with The Epic
Foundation, a global not-for-profit start-up which aims to make it easier
for companies and individuals to give with confidence. Epic selects highly
effective charities supporting children and young people globally and
carries out rigorous due diligence on them. This year, in addition to donating
money to four Epic charities – Simplon.co (France); The Brilliant Club (UK);
Gastromotiva (Brazil) and Prerana (India) – Rothschild & Co employees
spent time working with the Epic team to challenge and improve their
due diligence processes. The partnership has also led to opportunities
for the young people supported by Epic charities to attend interview skills
workshops at Rothschild & Co offices.
Promoting STEM in North America
Employees in New York this year engaged with more than 100 children aged
6 to 12 in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) project run by
the Madison Square Boys and Girls club. The club’s mission is to enhance
the lives of underprivileged children by providing them with a safe and
positive place where they feel physically and emotionally safe.
The STEM project involved 30 Rothschild employees in an afternoon
of teaching and learning at the Columbus Clubhouse in the Bronx. The
volunteers joined forces with the clubhouse staff to guide the children
through the project using tablets donated by the firm. They also helped
with homework, leading a Group reading and vocabulary exercise and
assisting with arts and crafts projects.
Rothschild & Co’s Community Partners in 2017 included:
• The Access Project
• Ashoka
• Beyond Me
• Bow School
• The Brokerage
Citylink
• Caritas
• Children’s Village
• City Year
• Epic Foundation
• Hatch Enterprise
• IntoUniversity
• Madison Square Boys
and Girls Club
• Niddaschule
• Pencil
• Pro Juventute
• Right to Succeed
• Salzmanschule
• Speakers Trust
• STEM Skills Fund
• Teach First
• Team Up
• Teens and Toddlers
• Tower Hamlets EBP
• Villiers Park
Educational Trust
5.3 Subcontractors and suppliers
5.3.1 Integration of social and environmental
issues into the company procurement policy
Rothschild & Co aims to develop a Group responsible purchasing policy.
The Group is currently in the process of finalising a United Kingdom
Purchasing Policy that will address a range of matters from procurement
process to aspects such as environment, diversity, health and safety and
the modern slave trade. The next stage would then be to approach other
offices with the intent of developing a global purchasing policy.
In the United Kingdom, N M Rothschild & Sons Limited and Rothschild
Wealth Management (UK) Limited are obliged pursuant to the Modern
Slavery Act (the “MSA”) to report on the steps each has taken to ensure
that slavery and human trafficking are not taking place in their business
or in their supply chains. Annually, each undertakes a risk assessment
concerning the potential for vulnerabilities in relation to slavery and human
trafficking and considers the control mechanisms in place that attempt
to mitigate such risks. As required by the MSA, the relevant reports are
published on Rothschild & Co’s internet website ).
5.3.2 Importance of subcontracting and
consideration, in the relationship with
subcontractors and suppliers of their social
and environmental responsibility
Given the Group’s activities, subcontracting is not significant.
The Group does not yet undertake formal supply chain risk assessments.
However, in some circumstances and where larger suppliers are involved,
more detailed assessment of environmental credentials has been
carried out.
In due course and where appropriate, the Group EH&S Committee will
investigate options for providing Rothschild & Co and Group entities with
a supplier engagement tool to help consider the social and environmental
responsibility policies of prospective significant suppliers in a more
structured way.
5.4 Fair business and practices
The Group conducts its activities with a high level of professional ethics with
the clients’ interests as its priority. This is done by implementing a rigorous
internal control system and risk control adapted to the Group’s size and
covered activities.
More details on the Group’s internal control and risk control structure are
presented in the section related to internal control, risk management and
accounting procedures on pages 66 onwards of the management report.