Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement of Connect Plus (M25) Limited

The Company recognises that it is a commercial organisation within the Modern Slavery Act 2015, and that it is required to prepare a slavery and human trafficking statement for each financial year.

Please find below a statement of the steps the Company has taken, and is taking, during the financial year to ensure that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place (i) in any of its supply chains, and (ii) in any part of its own business.

The Company:

  1. Organisation structure, business and supply chains are set out in the DBFO Company Management
    Manual.

    1. The work is not seasonal.
    2. Countries from which the supply chain sources goods and/or services do not include any of the countries where modern forms of slavery are prevalent[1].
  2. Policies in relation to slavery and human trafficking include:
    1. Health & Safety Policy
    2. Business Ethics Policy
    3. Environment and Sustainability Policy
    4. Connect Plus Secondee Handbook which includes a whistleblowing statement
  3. Due diligence processes in relation to slavery and human trafficking in the Company's:
    1. Business
      1. No processes have been set up because the Company has no employed staff/employees.
    2. Supply chains
      1. the Company has one main principal sub-contract supplier, Connect Plus Services under
        the Operation and Maintenance Agreement signed between the Company and the O&M
        Joint venture partners. This entity is an unincorporated joint venture partnership between
        Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering Limited; Egis Road Operation UK Limited and Atkins
        Limited (all as agents of Balfour Beatty Group Limited, Atkins Group Limited and Egis
        Group Limited).
      2. The Company has a further set of two groups of Tier 1 suppliers; Renewals Framework Contractors and the Improvements (COFA) Framework Contractors.
        1. The Renewals Tier 1 Framework Contractors are; Tarmac Trading Limited, Skanska Construction UK Ltd, Jackson Civil Engineering Group Ltd and Geoffrey Osborne Ltd.
        2. The Improvements (COFA) Tier 1 Framework Contractors are; R&W Civil Engineering, Skanska Construction UK Ltd, Jackson Civil Engineering Group Ltd and Geoffrey Osborne Ltd.
      3. All of the above-named companies have robust statements, codes of conduct, policies, due diligence processes, risk management systems, and effectiveness/performance checks in relation to slavery and human trafficking. The board makes periodic checks on these, and reviews at monthly board meetings to consider practical application, appropriateness and success.
      4. The Company will maintain an on-going assessment of modern slavery risks and opportunities for future improvement.
  4. Risk of slavery and human trafficking taking place:
    1. In its business is very small because the Company has no employed staff/employees, all are secondees or contractors.
    2. In its supply chains is greater, however, please see 3b, iii above for details on the steps the Company has taken and is taking, to assess and manage that risk;
  5. Determines effectiveness in ensuring that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in its business or supply chains as set out in 3b) above.
  6. Guidance about slavery and human trafficking is available to staff.
      1. However, no training has been set up because the Company has no employed staff/employees.


This slavery and human trafficking statement is approved by the Board of Directors

Andy Dean, Chief Executive Officer, Connect Plus (M25) Limited
12 June 2022

[1] Reference https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/findings/ 02/10/2017: The 2016 Global Slavery Index estimates that 45.8 million people are subject to some form of modern slavery in the world today. The Index presents a ranking of 167 countries based on the proportion of the population that is estimated to be in modern slavery. The countries with the highest estimated prevalence of modern slavery by the proportion of their population are North Korea, Uzbekistan, Cambodia, India, and Qatar. In North Korea, there is pervasive evidence that government-sanctioned forced labour occurs in an extensive system of prison labour camps while North Korean women are subjected to forced marriage and commercial sexual exploitation in China and other neighbouring states. In Uzbekistan, the government continues to subject its citizens to forced labour in the annual cotton harvest.

Those countries with the highest absolute numbers of people in modern slavery are India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Uzbekistan. Several of these countries provide the low-cost labour that produces consumer goods for markets in Western Europe, Japan, North America and Australia.

The countries with the lowest estimated prevalence of modern slavery by the proportion of their population are Luxembourg, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden and Belgium, the United States and Canada, and Australia and New Zealand.

These countries generally have more economic wealth, score higher on government response, have low levels of conflict, and are politically stable with a willingness to combat modern slavery.
June 2019