QE Facilities Limited is a subsidiary of Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust.
Purpose and Scope
In accordance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015, QE Facilities is committed to preventing acts of modern slavery i.e. human trafficking and slavery within both its business and supply chain. In line with this commitment, QE Facilities imposes those high standards on its suppliers.
The Organisation
QE Facilities Limited is a provider of healthcare-related services to Gateshead NHS Foundation Trust and other external service providers.
QE Facilities currently employ 825 people with a turnover of c75m. Services cover the Northeast inclusive of warehousing and logistics, sites in Leeds and Coventry, A Pharmacy division and a Finance and Procurement division specialist consultancy and financial management services.
Our Commitment
The organisation considers the potential social impact and effect of its supply chain prior to the commencement of a procurement. It is committed to ensuring its suppliers adhere to the highest standards of ethics and undertakes due diligence when considering new suppliers as well as regularly reviewing existing suppliers.
The organisation recognises that it has a responsibility to take a robust approach preventing and addressing any concerns to slavery and human trafficking.
The organisation is committed to preventing slavery and human trafficking in its corporate activities and to ensuring that its supply chains are free from slavery and human trafficking.
We are committed to acting ethically and with integrity and transparency in all business dealing and to putting effective systems and controls in place to safeguard against any form of modern slavery taking place within the business of our supply chain
Training
Advice and training regarding modern slavery and human trafficking is available to staff through the groups safeguarding children and adults training programmes, our safeguarding policies and procedures and our safeguarding lead.
Employees of QEF undertake mandatory Safeguarding Training as part of core skills training which references Modern Day Slavery and informs staff how to raise concerns regarding any vulnerable adult.
Members of the Procurement senior team are Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) qualified and abide by the CIPs code of professional conduct.
QE Facilities Policy Framework
The organisation has several policies in place, which support this agenda including: –
- Recruitment and Selection policies
- Safeguarding policies
- Managing Conflicts of Interest
- Raising Concerns – Freedom to Speak Up
Our Due Diligence
As part of our efforts to monitor and reduce the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring within our supply chain we have taken the following steps:
- Gathered information from the business concerning existing suppliers
- Identified tier 1 suppliers to our business;
- Sought confirmation from those suppliers of their own compliance with the Modern Slavery Act (where appropriate) and their commitment to ethical business practices and transparency in their own supply chains.
These steps have been taken to enable us to:
- Establish and assess areas of potential risk in our business and supply chains;
- Monitor potential risk areas in our business and supply chains;
- Train our employees on what to look for (the signs of modern slavery);
- Reduce the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in our business and supply chains;
- Provide adequate protection for whistle-blowers.
We also confirm the identities of all new employees and their right to work in the United Kingdom in line with NHS employment check standards within our recruitment and selection practices and pay all our employees above the National Minimum Wage.
Our core values, Harassment and Bullying, Grievance and Raising Concerns policies give staff a platform for our employees to raise concerns about poor working practices or behaviors not in line with those expected.
Risk and Compliance
QE Facilities Limited has taken steps to evaluate the nature and extent of its exposure to the risk of modern slavery occurring within our supply chain, measured against legislative and regulatory requirements.
Manging Director
QE Facilities Limited