The RCP has an annual turnover of circa £40 million and its bought-in goods and services expenditure is approximately £18 million p.a. At all times the RCP has an obligation to ensure that goods and services are purchased wisely in the best interest of the future direction of the RCP and a moral obligation to consider the wider environmental, social and economic impact of purchasing its goods or services.
We are committed to integrity, high ethical and moral standards and professionalism. In line with these values the RCP has a zero-tolerance approach to slavery and human trafficking. Slavery and human trafficking often have serious health consequences for its victims who consequently come into contact with the healthcare services – our members therefore play a vital role in spotting and supporting victims.
The RCP is dedicated to continuing the improvement of its practices to prevent acts of modern slavery and human trafficking from occurring within the organisation and its supply chains and impose the same high standards on its suppliers.
Organisation structure
The RCP, charity no. 210508, is a professional membership body for physicians, with over 40,000 members and fellows around the globe working in hospitals and communities across 35 medical specialties. Physicians and physician associates diagnose and treat illness and promote good health. They care for millions of medical patients with a broad range of conditions, from asthma and diabetes to stroke and yellow fever.
Our vision is the best possible health and healthcare for everyone. Everything that we do at the RCP aims to improve patient care and reduce illness. Our work is patient centred and clinically led. We drive improvement in the diagnosis of disease, the care of individual patients and the health of the whole population, both in the UK and across the globe. We also work to ensure that physicians are educated and trained to provide high-quality care.
The RCP Group consists of two active legal entities:
- The Royal College of Physicians of London – the charity parent
- RCP Regent’s Park Ltd – its wholly owned commercial subsidiary
The RCP operates from 2 main offices (London and Liverpool) and various smaller regional offices throughout the UK.
Our organisation has the following procedures in place that contribute to ensuring modern slavery does not occur in our business or supply chains.
Employment:
- We have robust recruitment processes in line with UK employment laws including right to work document checks; contracts of employment and checks to ensure everyone employed is 16 and above.
- We have market related pay reviewed annually
- We have wellbeing activities and initiatives to support our people’s physical and mental wellbeing and lifestyle choices.
Transparency in our supply chains:
- We have a Sustainable Procurement Policy. This policy states that all existing and all new suppliers will have to comply with the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (where applicable) and all other relevant modern slavery legislation.
- We have a Supplier Code of Conduct which all existing and new suppliers must comply with. The Code makes explicit reference to practices that are or can lead to modern slavery such as child labour, forced labour, freedom of association, wages, working hours, discrimination and health and safety.
- We have mapped all our supply chains according to location, size and industry to identify potential indicators of slavery and have asked all our suppliers to confirm their compliance to the Act through their own modern slavery statements.
- We are working towards the ISO 20400:2017 international standard for Sustainable Procurement.
Our supply chains and due diligence
We work with a wide range of suppliers, primarily from the UK. Our supply chains include: professional services and advisors, office support services (stationery, cleaning, IT equipment and software), catering and hospitality. We recognise that we work with some high risk sectors (including cleaning, catering and hospitality) and have taken steps to ensure those risks are identified and mitigated.
As part of our initiative to identify and mitigate risk we will:
- ask all potential or new suppliers to provide information about modern slavery, their approach and compliance with this legislation, following which we categorise and weight risk and take due consideration in our decision making prior to any contract award.
- ensure that all new contractual documentation includes an obligation on suppliers to comply with the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (and all other relevant modern slavery legislation) and, where we can, we also ask the supplier to pass this obligation down the contractual chain to its suppliers.
- contact existing suppliers of historical contracts to ensure compliance with Modern Slavery Act 2015 (and all other relevant modern slavery legislation).
- continue our affiliation to Electronics Watch through our membership with the London Universities Purchasing Consortium (LUPC).
We also ensure that all of our suppliers that have staff working on our sites are contractually obligated to pay, as a minimum, the national living wage.
Our policy on slavery and human trafficking
We are committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains or in any part of our business. We commit to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business relationships and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure slavery and human trafficking is not taking place anywhere in our supply chains. We do not use or accept forced, bonded or involuntary prison labour or child labour.
Training
We invest in educating our staff and members to recognise the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our business and supply chains. Through our policies, employees and members are encouraged to identify and report any potential breaches of the organisation’s anti-slavery and human trafficking policy. Employees and members are taught the benefits of stringent measures to tackle slavery and human trafficking, as well as the consequences of failing to eradicate slavery and human trafficking from our business and supply chains.
Our members are also encouraged to pass on their knowledge and awareness to other healthcare workers such as nurses.
Dr Ian Bullock, CEO, Royal College of Physicians
Date of approval by Board of Trustees: 8 November 2022