Newsletter January 2017 WINTER EDITION

newsletter january 2017 WINTER EDITION

Mike Barry – Welcome DIRECTOR OF PLAN A It’s the end of another very busy year for M&S and our customers. 2016 was a year of change across the globe and marketplace diversification continues at pace. At M&S, we have been focusing on looking at what our customers want and how we can engage them more in Plan A.

So what do our customers want from us? Well we’re on the And of course our customers will never stop expecting us right journey via our core purpose of Making Every Moment to anticipate new social and environmental issues (such as Special, through our products and our service. But MEMS human rights, transparency, the circular economy, food waste is also all about what we’ve done with Spark Something etc) well before they become mainstream concerns. Good this year. From Edinburgh to Bradford; Newcastle to So as we approach the 10th anniversary of launching Plan A Exeter we’ve been improving the communities where our we can be proud of what we’ve achieved (£180m savings pa, customers live. 230 awards won etc). But we should also be clear that there The same with our employability programme “Marks and is so much more still to be done if we are to become a truly Start”, where we’ve kept on going from strength to strength sustainable retailer, one that in everything it does and helping 1000s of people facing barriers to work to get the everything it sells creates better outcomes for our skills and confidence they need to get that most precious customers, their families, their communities and the of things, a good job. planet we all share.

They’ve loved our work with Macmillan and Breast Cancer So here’s our commitment for 2017, let’s work together Now too. Helping them make a difference on an issue, cancer, to make Plan A bigger, bolder and more relevant to our that blights too many of our customers and colleagues’ lives. customers and in doing so help M&S win too. And our Sparks Card is rewarding a charity of their choice every time they shop with us.

We’ve come a long way in 2016 to better engage our customers with our Plan A story but we know we have to be so much better in 2017.

1 plan a newsletter DECEMBER 2016 WINTER edition http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/plan-a Halting deforestation Wood is at the heart of our business; we need timber and wood fibre to build, furnish and run our stores and to make our products and packaging. Traded commodities like palm oil and soy are hugely valuable not only for M&S products, but for the role they play in lifting communities from poverty and, when well managed, for their productive use of agricultural land.

Halting deforestation was always going to be tough; we knew But sustainability schemes are not the whole answer. that. M&S has been working to remove deforestation from our We’re seeing bold commitments from national and provincial supply chains for 10 years and we’ve learned a lot in that time. governments inspired by market based Produce-Protect Most of all we’ve learned that single supply chain efforts will commitments. M&S and WWF recently ran a workshop on never achieve sufficient impact or scale to halt land use landscape approaches to create a forum for supply chain change, and even huge industry wide collaborative efforts like companies, government, academics, NGOs and industry the Consumer Goods Forum Deforestation Resolution need bodies to learn about new developments to protect natural to be accompanied by broader international strategies. landscapes, and to share thoughts on challenges and As the recent Forest 500 Report highlighted; ‘the leaders opportunities. We need all actors in the supply chain to put continue to lead and the laggards to lag’. It was wonderful to their shoulder to the wheel and support these burgeoning see M&S one of only 5 companies in the top tier, and to see governmental programmes. this replicated with M&S leadership rating for all commodities Transparency is fundamental as an agent of change. in the CDP Forest Disclosure report, but being at the front Companies must disclose their policies and progress on has made us acutely aware that much more needs to be done implementation. Transparency allows companies to be held to protect forests from conversion to commodities like palm to account as well as helping us understand what works, oil, soy and cattle. We need co-ordinated action on a scale what doesn’t and why. While traceability is critical at some never seen before, and M&S is working with others to develop levels for some actors, it can be argued that we can achieve strategies to promote the sustainable agriculture and more by focusing more on understanding what information livelihood improvement programmes that need to sit is needed by who, and less on expecting everyone to know alongside conservation actions. everything and equating knowledge with action. M&S is So the M&S view on business and global priorities putting this into action through our initiation and leadership to protect forests? of pre-competitive programmes to protect forests in palm There’s a need to take a fresh but critical look at what can oil and forest fibres used in textiles. be achieved by the technical schemes we rely on to ensure So the public and private sectors have roles to play, as do they adapt and evolve to meet new challenges. academics and NGOs. The real challenge is how do we work Fiona Wheatley, our Sustainable Raw Materials Manager, in partnership towards a shared goal. At M&S we’re committed recently attended the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil to creating and catalysing alliances to achieve more than the conference and General Assembly in Bangkok. RSPO is the sum of their parts, with a clear focus on healthy landscapes strongest of all the single commodity certification schemes and productive livelihoods. with 17% of all palm oil being RSPO certified. But certification volumes have plateaued and change is needed for RSPO to (Notes: Emerging economies, such as India and China alongside producing extend its reach beyond this level. Fiona sits on the Board of countries like Indonesia and Brazil, need to be more engaged in tackling sustainability and deforestation issues. There needs to be public recognition of our RSPO and there is recognition that we need a new approach collective dependency on viable ecosystems and productive agriculture. Private organisations: finance; supply chain; market facing, should advocate for more to meet RSPO’s objective of ‘transforming mainstream palm ambitious national policies to protect forests and other vulnerable ecosystems. This can help governments understand how critical good regulation is for oil production’. commercial success as well as for social development and climate stability.)

2 plan a newsletter DECEMBER 2016 WINTER edition http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/plan-a DataDive 2016 Using M&S skills for good

What do you get when you put 40 analysts, The Welcome Centre is a food bank in Huddersfield and South Kirklees that supports people experiencing crisis three charities and a coffee cart in a room for through practical help. They wanted to understand their two days? Data science for social good! clients better and identify those who would benefit from additional support, advice and referral to other services. For the third year running, Marks & Spencer partnered with In particular, the Welcome Centre wanted to know who is DataKind UK to run a DataDive, a two-day event at which pro most likely to become a repeat user of the food bank, as bono data analysts volunteer for charities. DataKind UK those individuals tend to need extra support. brings together groups of volunteer data scientists to work with selected charities. They believe that the same data The all-star centre of pro bono analysts got to work and were science tools and techniques revolutionising many private able to find factors that predicted how likely it was that sector companies can be applied to some of society’s someone would need extra support. The Welcome Centre is toughest challenges. looking to develop the model further so they can identify who needs support earlier, what future demand for the For DataDive 2016, we had a very interesting mix of charities, service might be, and to test hypotheses for which each linked to an important Plan A initiative in the past year. interventions work best with which clients. The Welcome Centre, a small local charity in Huddersfield is part of our Food Redistribution programme, in partnership “...It is the best level of human resources with neighbourly.com. Oasis Community Learning are part analytics that Oasis Community of the Oasis charity, which have been involved in our Spark Something Good nation-wide volunteering programme. Learning has ever had and it is great And Shelter, a well know national charity, are also one of the to see the educational impact being charities supported through the Sparks card 1p charity clearly mapped to the turnover of our staff.” donation programme. John Barnaby, Chief Operating Officer, Oasis Community Learning

A quick round up of the questions we addressed and the outcomes.

Oasis Community Learning is one of the top three Academy providers in the UK with 47 schools across primary, secondary and 6th form serving 22,000 students with 4,300 teachers. Oasis wanted to look at their human resources data to understand staff turnover and absence, and what this means for pupil performance. The findings from DataDive enabled Oasis to see patterns in their HR data for the first time and will help accelerate their plans to become more data-driven.

Shelter helps millions of people every year struggling with bad housing or homelessness through advice, support and legal services. They wanted to dig into their outcomes data to understand what happened to their clients. What is the result of their help? What are the changes for the client? How do these changes compare for different people accessing different services around the country? The M&S analysts dived in and in no time at all whipped up an interactive dashboard to enable Shelter staff to explore these very questions. Shelter’s business systems team were thrilled, and they have even started learning R, a data analytics programming language!

“A very well organised and structured event, the outcomes of which will make a genuine difference to our organisation’s business processes.” Andrew Tomlinson, Trustee,

3 plan a newsletter DECEMBER 2016 WINTER edition http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/plan-a Transparency Project Update

We believe that trust is established and maintained by doing business in the right way. We aim to be open and transparent – both in the information we make public and the way we share it.

We introduced ‘transparency’ as a key the Plan A website to make it easier our wild-caught and farmed seafood priority within Plan A 2020. Technology for stakeholders to find out about key from together with information about innovation, shifting consumer and areas they are most interested in. Since the management of each fishery and societal expectations and marketplace then we’ve been progressively adding farm, environmental impacts and the developments means we need to new content at corporate. presence of third party certifications evolve our current position on how marksandspencer.com/plan-a/ and improvement projects. and what we share publicly. During . Sections of the site that our-approach Over the summer we also increased 2015, we engaged with our customers have been completely revised include our transparency on human rights. and other stakeholders to help us assess our approach to ‘Delivering Plan A’, We published our inaugural Human how we’re doing on transparency. ‘Property & Construction’, ‘Community Rights Report and Modern Slavery For example, we commissioned Engagement’ and ‘Business wide’ Statement. We began to disclose research specialists, GlobeScan, to issues. Earlier this year we also additional information on our help us identify specific stakeholder significantly improved the information approach to auditing as well as audit expectations and prioritise our efforts. we publish about how we’re taking results. In addition, we published for sustainability forward within our ‘Food The key takeaway from this research the first time an interactive map & Household’ business. was that transparency goes beyond featuring the locations of our active data and performance – our There’s now much more information on clothing and food manufacturers. stakeholders also want more our policies and ways of working We plan to add sites used to make M&S information about how specific issues covering a range of food & household home and beauty products onto the are managed and how we approach topics ranging from supplier map by the end of March 2017. decision-making and governance. management, capacity building, For ‘Clothing & Home’ we’ve These insights helped us develop a product standards through to public undertaken a comprehensive review to programme of improvements to how health and raw materials, commodities identify opportunities for improved we communicate Plan A policies and and ingredients. We’ve also enhanced transparency. We’ve already published activities online. And over the last year our existing content on farm animal new content on how we manage and we’ve made considerable progress. health and welfare and agriculture and engage with our clothing & home fisheries. For example, for the first time One of the first things we did was to suppliers and how we check we revise the navigation and structure of publicly disclosed where we source compliance with our policies. We’ve also enhanced our existing content on responsible chemicals management. We plan to add further new content to our website over the coming months. We want to know what you think about our approach to transparency and what we can do to improve it. Please share your views at PlanA@marks-and- spencer.com.

Read more on our approach to Transparency on the Plan A website. See: corporate.marksandspencer. com/plan-a/our-approach/ delivering-plan-a/listening-and- taking-action/transparency

4 plan a newsletter DECEMBER 2016 WINTER edition http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/plan-a Project Redress Investigating new circular business models for clothing

In 2014, we joined forces with University of Cambridge Institute for Manufacturing for a research project funded by Innovate UK. The objective was for M&S to explore potential new business models in a risk free way through experimentation so we can fast track new customer propositions that:

• Meet customers’ needs Proposition Mapping and encouraged our colleagues to experiment with lean/agile methodologies in day to day • Are scalable activities. M&S are already drawing upon the new knowledge • Make a profitable return for our business and experience of the team to inform and enable similar • And ensure a significant reduction activities across multiple business areas. Overall the new in clothing going to landfill business models that were developed could have the potential, if scaled, the potential to recover the equivalent of The project kicked off in August 2014 and finished in October almost 50% of the clothes M&S sell. 2016. Throughout this period, we ran experiments, demos and pilots with the objective of learning as quickly as To close off the project, in November 2016 we held a public possible without impacting our current business. event, where we invited stakeholders from companies, NGOs and academia to share our learnings and provide taster With a project team including both M&S specialists and sessions with the tools we found most useful. academics from Cambridge University, the project aimed to strike a balance between experimenting fast, addressing • Deep persona development business objectives and disseminating the knowledge • Designing and running business experiments internally in M&S and externally. We involved relevant • Using a deconstructed business model canvas colleagues from our business, but also brought in external specialists to ensure we accurately test ideas and concepts • Value proposition development that could be potentially taken forward. Due to commercial Demonstrations explained how the tools were used and gave confidentiality, we are not able to disclose at this time any of the audience a chance to try them out. the business models developed. These hands-on demonstrations were very popular, so we However, we are very keen to share all we learned with would like to offer them out as separate training sessions, regards to the process of running an innovation project in a delivered by our colleagues at University of Cambridge. large company. Together with the Cambridge colleagues we Please email [email protected] if you are developed new tools, like the Honeycomb Business Model interested. analysis tool. We also tried new approaches, like Value

5 plan a newsletter DECEMBER 2016 WINTER edition http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/plan-a Greenpeace The Detox Catwalk Greenpeace launched its “Detox My Fashion” campaign in Credit was also given for publishing our interactive online list of suppliers July 2011 to address the problem of toxic pollution, asking the as well as for proposing to monitor textile industry urgently to take responsibility for its contribution hazardous chemicals at various to this. Greenpeace has secured global commitments from production stages and publishing the results on IPE. We were encouraged to 76 international brands, retailers and suppliers. expand our interactive map to include lower tier suppliers, at least wet The focus is on the eleven priority groups of chemicals well-known processors. This is something we will to M&S, and covered in our Restricted Substances List (RSL), give due consideration to as part and more recently in our Manufacturing Restricted Substances of our transparency project. List (MRSL). Corporate Information Transparency Index 2016 Detox Catwalk July 2016 which aims to reduce hazardous M&S performed very well in the latest In the third edition of the Catwalk chemicals as much as possible to zero. Corporate Information Transparency report, Greenpeace assessed the steps However, they did acknowledge that Index (CITI) rankings recently. taken by 19 fashion brands to fulfil their we require the lowest commercially IPE (Institute for Public and Environmental commitments. This year the focus was available detection limits. Affairs) are a Chinese organisation set on implementation, and brands were up to monitor corporate environmental evaluated against their Detox 2020 PFC Elimination performance and publicly disclose deadline to eliminate hazardous Greenpeace also acknowledged our pollution violations and non-compliances. chemicals. efforts in achieving our goal of Every year IPE publish a corporate The main criteria assessed were: the eliminating perfluorocarbons (PFCs) ranking which looks at eight industrial Detox 2020 Plan, PFC elimination and in products by July 2016 as well as sectors in China with significant Transparency. Brands were categorised implementing a precautionary principle environmental impacts e.g. textiles, food as Avant Garde (the good guys), Faux approach to nanotechnology when and beverage, leather, automotive etc. Pas (the failures) and Evolution Mode assessing alternatives. We were, however, It ranks the company performance (somewhere in between) – M&S were criticised for not labelling existing stock in terms of criteria such as supplier deemed to be in Evolution Mode. as containing PFCs. Of course, if any screening, compliance and corrective stakeholders would like to know if a action, public disclosure, and how well Greenpeace’s detailed assessment particular clothing product contains they respond to environmental issues. included: PFCs (or any other chemical) they can M&S is ranked at number 3 in the contact us directly using the ‘Product textile rankings and has been steadily Detox 2020 Plan quality – clothing and home’ email improving year on year. We were praised for introducing option. Allowing for sales of existing mandatory disclosure of chemical stock we would expect to be completely This is a fantastic result and is inventories for wet processors, but PFC free by the end of 2018. testament to the dedicated work of were criticised for our MRSL being too the Hong Kong and Shanghai fabric closely linked to the version prepared Transparency technical teams – the screenshot by the Zero Discharge of Hazardous We were praised for having at least below shows the criteria against which Chemicals (ZDHC) Programme. For 80% of our suppliers in China (39% of the brands are assessed. example, Greenpeace feels that the all wet processing suppliers) disclose See corporate.marksandspencer.com/ ZDHC version is flawed because it has environmental data via the IPE plan-a/our-approach/clothing-and- not adopted a ‘no safe level’ approach platform (see below). home/product-standards/responsible- chemicals-management

CITI Criteria

Engagement & Extend Green Supply Chain Responsible Compliance & Corrective Actions Data Disclosure & Transparency Responsiveness Practices Products

Responsibly Identify & CITI Criteria Respond to Establish Push for Extend Recycling Manage Manage Main Energy and and Engage Screening Corrective Management PRTR Used Wastewater Polluting Climate Data with the Public Mechanism Actions Upstream Products Treatment Sectors

No. Brand 100 12 12 14 10 14 8 10 12 8 1 Adidas 73 12 12 14 5 7 2 10 9 2 2 Levi’s 67 12 12 10.5 5 7 2 7.5 9 2 3 M&S 64.5 12 12 10.5 2.5 7 2 7.5 9 2 4 Target 62.5 12 12 10.5 2.5 7 2 7.5 9 0 5 Gap 61.5 12 12 10.5 5 7 2 5 6 2

6 plan a newsletter DECEMBER 2016 WINTER edition http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/plan-a The Healthy High Streets programme

The Healthy High Streets programme developed by Business Key achievements of the programme to date: in the Community launched in 2014 and is a business led high intensity high streets regeneration programme working with • Over 400 local business leaders active on the high 100 towns across the UK over three years. street working alongside town centre partnerships M&S has a strong working relationship with our other business and local authority partners partners on the programme – Boots, Exterion Media, EE, Greggs, • Towns are reporting a total of 8.4 million Santander and Wilko and we are all focussed on delivering the additional visits aims of increasing footfall by 10%, reducing empty premises by • 300 premises back into use 20%, creating 3,000 jobs and boost local pride in our towns. • More than 6000 new jobs

The Prince of Wales, who is president of Business in The Community, visited the Healthy High Streets showcase at the BITC Annual General Meeting in November and Peter Donohoe currently on secondment from M&S who is leading the programme had the opportunity to introduce the teams from 5 of the Healthy High Streets towns – Dunfermline, Liverpool, Loughborough, Prestatyn and Stockton – who discussed how they have successfully improved footfall, reduced empty units and boosted local pride to help regenerate their town centres. Photo features Sarah Parker discussing successes from her role as store manager in Prestatyn.

Congratulations to... Zabir Khonat from Camden Town store who has won the store manager of the year award in the Great British High Streets Competition 2016. Zabir has played a leading role in helping local businesses and organisations to join forces in providing solutions for homeless people as well as working with the Police to reduce shoplifting in the high street.

...and to store managers who have been active in several Healthy High Streets towns that have also won awards – Derby, Falmouth and Stockton and pride of place goes to Blackburn which was named winner of winners in the Great British High Streets 2016 competition.

Business in the Community’s Healthy High Streets Programme Supporting the revitalisation of high streets around the UK

Since 2014 Healthy High Street towns have reported:

• 8.4 million extra visits from the public

• Over 400 High Street Champions active on their local high streets

• 6,000 jobs created

• 300 empty premises back in use

Map of Great Britain - Single Color by FreeVectorMaps.com

With thanks to our corporate partners: plan a newsletter DECEMBER 2016 WINTER edition http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/plan-a M&S and Breast Cancer Now: A renewed and refocused partnership

By Meaghan Annear, M&S Corporate Partnerships Manager

M&S and Breast Cancer Now have been partners for over 15 years. Our multifaceted partnership brings women who are affected Having raised an incredible £20 million during this time, it is one of by breast cancer to the heart of the campaign. M&S pioneered the industry’s longest standing and most successful corporate bringing post-surgery products to the high street 10 years ago, charity partnerships. In 2015, after a decade and a half, we took the with the help of Breast Cancer Now. Focus groups and wearer opportunity to refocus and present a new five year ambitious trials are regularly held with women who have been through appeal. Together, we have pledged to raise £13 million over five breast surgery, in order to determine how the products could be years, double the annual target of prior years, and to help prevent improved. It is opportunities like this that show the value of a 9,000 women from developing breast cancer by 2025. fully integrated partnership.

The new appeal officially launched in October 2015 with the A key aim of Breast Cancer Now is to raise awareness of breast Breast Cancer Awareness Month campaign. It was a huge cancer risks since a significant portion of breast cancers can be success, starring seven incredible women whose lives had been prevented through lifestyle changes. We are constantly looking affected by breast cancer, modelling in lingerie designed by to develop the best ways to positively change colleagues and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. It was a bold approach, one that customer behaviour to help us prevent women from ever required real bravery from our women, and the resulting getting breast cancer. Our Breast Cancer Awareness Month feedback was overwhelming. We could see the tremendous campaign in October 2016 embodied this, as it was focused impact featuring real women had and how their stories brought on encouraging women to get active for 30 minutes a day to the campaign to life. reduce their risk by at least 20%. Again, using a new seven inspirational women to inspire customers. We will continue to The following 11 months saw us raise an incredible £3.3 million use the partnership to reinforce these messages to help reach through a variety of activities. Our Fashion Targets Breast Cancer our target of preventing 9,000 cases of breast cancer by 2025. campaign raised an impressive £500,000 through a range of t-shirts and employee fundraising. The first ever Summer Charity Breast cancer is a disease that has impacted the lives of so many. Gala held in May in celebration of our partnership, was a sight to It is because of this, and our steadfast commitment to prevent behold. Shirley Bassey and Take That were two of the standout women from dying from breast cancer, that our partnership will performances enjoyed by M&S suppliers and employees, who always be close to the heart of the M&S customer. together raised an impressive £440,000.

Amanda Jones, aged 74 Amanda lost her youngest daughter, Becs, to breast cancer thirteen years ago, when Becs was 33.

“Becs’ courage, patience and unselfishness through the eleven short months until her death was an inspiration. She is my inspiration every day and I knew that I must honour her memory by helping raise funds, awareness and campaign for research into breast cancer.”

To celebrate Becs’ life, Amanda became a supporter of Breakthrough Breast Cancer, now Breast Cancer Now, and has raised an incredible £280,000 since 2003. “I want to ensure that future generations will know that those who are diagnosed with breast cancer will live with the disease and not die from it. “Having worked with the charity for thirteen years and seen the advances in research, treatment and prevention, along with vital funding from partners like M&S, I know that we will achieve that goal.”

8 plan a newsletter DECEMBER 2016 WINTER edition http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/plan-a

Why is Spark Something Good ground-breaking? The main beneficiaries of the campaign are small organisations that have very few resources, but make big differences in their communities, like soup kitchens, nurseries & schools, hospices, youth charities, dog homes and many more. We also helped restore local pride by revamping green spaces, beaches, canals and playgrounds. And we encouraged our colleagues to put their skills to good use by offering advice and support, like the Visual Merchandisers refreshing windows for local charity shops.

What did M&S take out of this? Reading the feedback from colleagues, the one word that comes up again and again, is ‘pride’. Our colleagues in local stores have found being involved with Spark Something Good inspiring, rewarding and absolutely fitting with our values. It makes me feel proud to work for a brand that has contributed so much to local community – M&S Employee Leicester & Loughborough Today has definitely been one of the highlights of my career!! It’s amazing to be involved in such a fantastic project with such a great group of people!! Nicola Smith, Edinburgh

Many of them also built on skills that will be useful for their day to day jobs: In July 2015 we embarked on the most ambitious volunteering It has helped me with management skills that I can bring programme M&S has ever seen – Spark Something Good! to my new Section manager role. Dublin The plan was to visit cities around the UK and support 24 local grassroots projects with the help of customers and colleagues, Spark Something Good also resonated with customers, to make a difference in the communities where we operate. with 1682 members of the community and M&S customers joining in as well. This contributed to a more positive image After a lot of lessons learned in the three cities we visited in 2015, of us a company. it was in 2016 that Spark Something Good really came into its own! Seven cities in Scotland, England and Wales have been galvanised I think M&S have shown me that they care just as much about small by people coming together to make a difference, with the help local not so well publicised concerns as well as large National well of fantastic colleagues from local M&S stores. publicised ones. Well done M&S! What seemed like an impossible undertaking a year and CITIES PROJECTS a half ago is now part of M&S legacy in Swansea, Edinburgh, The Leeds & Bradford, Bristol, Newcastle, Plymouth & Exeter and numbers 7 168 Leicester & Loughborough and has contributed to local speak for communities in ways that will set strong examples for the future! themselves Watch this space for exciting plans to spread Spark Something Good even wider in 2017

litres of ITEMS sewn people SPARK SOMETHING paint used 1265 benefited 1676 320,779 GOOD PADDINGTON

Colleagues in head Office also wanted to get involved and organised their own version, Spark Something Good Paddington. Over 220 colleagues plants cups of bags of supported 17 projects around London, & trees tea drank rubbish from cooking healthy meals for the planted 6838 2499 elderly, helping spruce up a local charity 8760 shop, working with food redistribution charities and even sewing syringe driver bags for the Oncology Ward at our neighbours, St. Mary’s Hospital.