BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD Tuesday, 17 November 2015 Paper No: BLB 15/85 F.O.I. Publication Status: OPEN - to be released without redaction CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY ANNUAL REPORT 2014/15 PURPOSE OF THE PAPER The purpose of the paper is to inform the Board of progress on the Library s Corporate Social Responsibility activities during 2014/15. ABSTRACT / SUMMARY The paper gives an overview of the Library s corporate social responsibility activities in the economic, energy and social domains. ACTION REQUESTED The Board is invited to note the report. Human Resources November 2015
Corporate Social Responsibility Report 2014/15 Welcome to our sixth Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) annual report. We are delighted to be able to communicate another year of commitment across the British Library and to confirm steady progress across the three areas of CSR activity; economic, energy and social. CSR Working Group 2014/15 Katie Betts Internal Communications Manager Patrick Dixon Head of Estates and Facilities The overall spend with Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) continues to be well above the government target and our managed print solution goes from strength to strength enabling the Library to save over 100,000 sheets of A4 paper. Alasdair Fraser Head of Procurement Hilary Hallas Continuous Improvement Manager James Hughes Welcome Team Steve Lenton Head of Infrastructure Services Alistair McIntosh Head of Organisation Development David Read Head of Facilities and Property Nigel Spencer Research and Business Development Manager Steve Hills Personal Computing Services Alexandra Goddard Exhibitions Manager Paul Kevern Technical Services Manager Roger Walshe Head of Public Engagement & Learning Unfortunately progress towards the target for carbon emissions set by the Greening Government Commitments, which sets out goals for departments in various environmental areas, has slowed but we are delighted to report we exceeded our recycling target of 70%, achieving 73.46% across all sites and on waste reduction, achieving a saving of 32.4 % against a target of 25%. We have built on our social commitments by getting involved in a plethora of community activities, ranging from working with the homeless and unemployed to introducing school children to the concept of becoming authors. Due to the commitment of the members of the Working Group and other colleagues we have again built on the achievements of previous years. While we have been sorry to see the departures from the Working Group of Sandra Myers- Edwards and Alasdair Ball, we have also been pleased to welcome Steve Hills, Alexandra Goddard, Paul Kevern and Roger Walshe. Alistair McIntosh Chair of CSR Working Group
ECONOMIC The British Library continues to make progress in the economic domain, enabling the proportion of spend with Small and Medium Sized Enterprises for supplying goods and services to significantly exceed the Government target of 26%. We have also continued to produce impressive savings across the Library by means of our managed print solution. Managed print Our managed print service continues to produce impressive savings across the British Library. One of the biggest savings that can be measured is from the fact we now operate pull print - this allows users to send jobs to the print server and then pick them up (pull them) from any managed printer, on any floor, at any site, rather than just sending jobs to a printer where they print automatically (push print) and not collecting them. Using the managed print solutions means any jobs not collected (printed) after three days are automatically deleted by the system. Additionally users can choose to delete the jobs at the device if they realise they are no longer required.
The figures below for 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015 clearly demonstrate the savings made by items being automatically deleted after three days or by the user themselves deleting unwanted items at the device. The total savings up to date on the environment is the equivalent of 102,710.00 sheets of A4 paper. Translated into environmental resources this equals:
Use of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) The Library has maintained the proportion of money it spends as an organisation with small and medium-sized businesses. The Government asks public sector bodies like the Library that at least 26% of the total amount they spend on goods and services is with small and medium-sized enterprises* (SMEs). This year, the Library has made 42% of its overall spend with SMEs, which is significantly above its target. This equates to a spend of 23M with 3,751 SME suppliers in 2014/15. The Corporate Procurement Unit (CPU) has continued to make it easier for small and medium-sized companies work with the Library both as part of our commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility and to meet the Government targets. CPU works closely with colleagues in all areas of the Library, undertaking spend analysis to ensure procurement requirements are understood and can be tendered competitively to provide greater opportunities for potential SME suppliers. We have invested time and resource in developing a greater understanding of the benefits of early market engagement and how this can benefit the tender requirement and outcomes as well as entering into early dialogue with SMEs to increase accessibility to tenders and encourage innovation and closer working relationships. For example, we have undertaken Contract Management training for BL Staff this year to provide information on tendering processes and how to open competition effectively to SMEs. Within the Library we have circulated a quarterly Procurement Bulletin to keep business up to date on procurement issues, including enabling opportunities for SMEs. We continue to assess the Library s spend and make relevant adaptions to contract and procurement activity to ensure we exceed our targets for SMEs. * Definition of a small and medium- sized enterprise (SME) The definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) used by the British Library is an enterprise which employs fewer than 250 persons and has an annual turnover not exceeding 50 million euro (approx. GBP equivalent 35 million), and/or an annual balance sheet total not exceeding 43 million euro (approx. GBP equivalent 38 million). An enterprise is defined as any entity engaged in an economic activity, irrespective of its legal form. This covers individuals, charities, societies or any other enterprise or organisation engaged in business activity with the British Library. BLB 15/85 Page 5 of 11
Environmentally-friendly products In 2014/15 we again maintained our use of environmentally- friendly products and services, including stationery and office supplies, and other categories where relevant. The Banner stationery contract continues to promote environmentally-friendly products and optimal use was made of recycled closed loop paper. Our print contract also uses environmentally friendly paper and we have reduced usage where possible by greater use of paperless documentation. We have ensured that the new Public Contract Regulations 2015 are understood in the Library and are complied with. Also all other legislation on environmental, social and ethical issues are embedded in contract processes and documents. BLB 15/85 Page 6 of 11
ENERGY The Library has continued to find ways to minimise our energy consumption and to reduce waste by donating to local charities. Energy management The Library s target has been to reduce its CO2 emissions by 25% over a five year period, using 2009/10 as the base year. This is in line with Greening Government Commitments, which set out firm goals for departments to tackle their carbon emissions, water use, waste, and supply chain impacts. Significant progress has been made although in this year, 2014/15, progress has temporarily slowed and the total reduction achieved over the five years currently stands at 21.3%. New strategies have been deployed in 2015/16, which we are confident will recover and exceed the target shortfall in 2014/14. We exceeded our recycling target of 70%, achieving 73.46% across all sites, and on waste reduction having signed up to the Greening Government targets a few years ago, to reduce waste in 2014-15 by 25% compared to 2009 we achieved 32.4%, a very pleasing result. Tom Power, Support Services Manager, says: We ve been working towards the Greening Government Commitments target of reducing waste by 25% since they were introduced in 2010. Over the years we managed successfully to increase our waste reduction percentage, finalising a reduction of 32.40% in 2014-15; that s more than 21 London buses full of rubbish. BLB 15/85 Page 7 of 11
Reuse of waste To enable the reduction of waste we have been reusing it, either in the Library or donating to local charities. We provided about six tonnes of waste to the Children s Scrap Project; this included large display cases, book trays and paint. At the end of the year we also started working with the Scrap Creative Re-use recycling initiative in Leeds for the collection and re-use of cardboard off-cuts from the preservation department. So far we have sent them 880kg. Food waste reduction We set a target of reducing year on year food waste by 5%. Unfortunately we failed to meet this target as food waste increased by 13.17%. Whilst this initially looks disappointing the rise is actually due to 25% increase in visitor numbers, compared to the preceding five year period (2008 2013). In other words we continued to control food waste well but more food was made on site. To ensure tight food waste control we have worked with Peyton & Byrne, our caterers, to ensure that food waste is reused wherever possible and that the quantity of food supplied is appropriate. Food waste continues to be processed via anaerobic digestion* which produces fertiliser and natural gases for energy. * Anaerobic digestion is a collection of processes by which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. [1] The process is used for industrial or domestic purposes to manage waste and/or to produce fuels. Much of the fermentation used industrially to produce food and drink products, as well as home fermentation, uses anaerobic digestion BLB 15/85 Page 8 of 11
SOCIAL In 2014/15 we continued to build on the platform we had established in previous years of helping young people develop important life, career and educational skills in London and at Boston Spa. However, this year, we were able to extend support to assisting homeless people develop entrepreneurial skills and gain British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICS) certification. Citrus Saturday BLB 15/85 Page 9 of 11
The British Library hosted a Citrus Saturday lemonade stand on our Piazza on 5 July 2014. This was one of many such stands set up across London for this annual event. The simple aim of Citrus Saturday is to introduce young people aged 11-15 to the challenges of running their own business in a fun, safe and organised way. It provides the young people taking part with the materials and locations to make and sell lemonade for a day and provides them with support, mentoring and training to help them to make business decisions that can lead to them making a profit that they can choose to keep. Citrus Saturday started life as a small-scale initiative by UCL Advances in Camden in 2011 but events have since taken off on an international basis. Its formation was part of the EU-funded Open Innovation Project in which the British Library was a partner. In 2012 Citrus Saturdays were held in Dublin, Edinburgh and Somerset. In 2013 they expanded to Belgium, Swaziland and Mozambique and, in 2014, Spain, Germany, France and Greece were added to the list. Citrus Saturday will return to the Library s Piazza on 4 July 2015. First Thursday First Thursday is a networking club which meets on the first Thursday evening of every month to learn about and share ways that small businesses in London can embed more ethical practices into the way they do business. The British Library Business & IP Centre hosted the inaugural meeting on 6 November, the third meeting on 5 February and will also provide a venue for the event this year. St Mungo s back to work scheme We continue to support St Mungo s work placement scheme. St Mungo's is a charity offering opportunities for homeless people to get permanent new homes and to find meaningful activities, learning and employment. The charity developed a client trainee scheme to give people who had experienced homelessness the skills and experience they need to find a job within the homelessness sector or further afield. Since then, the scheme has gone from strength to strength and is now called the Apprenticeship Scheme (in recognition of the qualification that is attached to it). Individuals on this scheme get BICS (British Institute of Cleaning Science) certification and work experience at the Library. We have supported a number of people through the scheme and were pleased to be able to offer a permanent position to one individual this year. BLB 15/85 Page 10 of 11
Education Trust for Wetherby Our partnership with Wetherby High School and the University of York on the Education Trust for Wetherby continued this year. A new management team took on the leadership of the school and it was therefore a relatively quiet year for Trust activities as the new team focused their energies on running the school. However, the Library was pleased to hold a further research workshop for sixth formers to help them understand the leap required in research skills from A-level to degree level. A further highlight in June was our being able to host a visit from cycling children s author Tom Palmer, who was conducting his own cycling tour between libraries in West Yorkshire as part of the Tour De France celebrations. Over 60 year 6 and year 7 students from the school came to our site at Boston Spa to hear first-hand insights from Tom about how he had BLB 15/85 Page 11 of 11