Modern slavery and human trafficking statement

Steps we take

People

All staff are appointed subject to references, occupational health checks, immigration checks and identity checks.  We work closely with our third-party recruitment provider to ensure they undertake rigorous checks on our behalf. This makes sure we are confident staff have a legal right to work for us before they start.

By adopting national pay and terms and conditions of service, we have assurance that all staff will be treated equally and fairly, and our terms comply with the latest legislation. This includes the assurance that staff receive, at least, the National Minimum Wage.

We have employment policies and procedures in place designed to provide guidance and advice to staff and managers, and which comply with employment legislation. All policies and procedures are available to all staff on our intranet. They are also supported by training sessions for managers.

Our equality, diversity and inclusion, grievance, and dignity at work policies and procedures give a platform for our staff to raise concerns about poor working practices.  We have trained Freedom to Speak Up Guardians and Ambassadors available as an avenue for staff to raise issues of concern in confidence.  Staff also have access to an employee assistance programme and all information is confidential.

We’re strongly committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and creating a non-discriminatory and respectful working environment for our staff. We have a set of values and behaviours that all staff are expected to comply with. Job applicants are expected to demonstrate these attributes in the recruitment process.

All staff are required to undertake mandatory staff training in relation to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and we have developed a 5-year workforce EDI roadmap which details our ambitions and key actions for 2024-2025.

Whistleblowing

Our whistleblowing policy gives staff a platform to raise concerns for further investigation. It also offers support to anyone who has suffered fiscal or professional detriment as a result of whistleblowing.

Procurement and our supply chains

Our procurement approach for our most common areas of spend follows the Crown Commercial Service frameworks which provides an assurance of compliance with procurement best practice and in all our tenders we include a mandatory requirement to comply with the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

When procuring goods and services, we additionally apply terms and conditions which require suppliers to comply with relevant legislation.

All procurement staff follow the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply ethical code in procurement. Ethical and staffing issues form a key part of our induction for new entrants to the procurement team.

Review of effectiveness 2023/24

• We published our Modern Slavery statement on the NICE website.
• We updated our risk assessment in relation to contract management and identified additional controls and mitigating actions to further minimise the risks.
• We received reports confirming that required legal and other right to work checks have been completed for newly appointed staff (prior to commencement at NICE).
• In January 2024 we raised awareness of modern slavery and human trafficking to all staff at NICE through an article on our intranet. A new modern slavery and human trafficking page was added to our staff intranet which has useful resources for staff including an awareness booklet created by the Home Office and a short video on how to spot the signs of modern slavery in the workplace. It also explains how to report concerns.
• In March 2024 we sample checked a number of contracts considered high risk (for example contracts procured outside of a framework and/or due to the nature of the goods and services) to ensure they had complied with the legal requirement of publishing a modern slavery statement on their website where applicable.
• We also undertook an exercise to ensure all staff considered to be a contract manager had undergone the relevant contract manager training. The revised contract manager training will now incorporate a section on modern slavery and the modern slavery training slides have been added to the contract manager Microsoft Teams site and channel for further awareness.

Compliance and monitoring in 2024/25

We will continue to assess and monitor potential risk areas in modern slavery and human trafficking. During 2024/25, we will strengthen our commitment by:

• Continuing to support all staff to understand what steps to take to prevent modern slavery including increasing awareness of reporting mechanisms for raising concerns.
• Continue to keep under review our risk assessment of NICE’s exposure to modern slavery and human trafficking and continue to work with our commercial team in identifying those contracts that are considered to be the highest risk areas.
• Continue to apply effective contract management support and quality assurance to contract managers, through collaborative engagement with suppliers to assess risks during selection and approvals processes. We’ll also put mitigation plans in place if red flags are raised, including monitoring throughout the commercial life cycle.
• Continue our ongoing programme of sample checking to ensure compliance with modern slavery legislation, focussing on contracts with technology suppliers.
• We will review this statement annually.

Reporting concerns

• call modern slavery helpline on 08000 121 700 
• visit the website at www.modernslaveryhelpline.org
• contact the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority on 0800 432 0804
• and/or submit a report online.

Dr Sam Roberts, chief executive

This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (“the Act”) and constitutes our slavery and human trafficking Statement for the financial year ending 31 March 2023. It was approved by the board on 19 July 2023.