Modern Slavery Act Statement

Statement

We are committed and dedicated to improving our practices to combat slavery and human trafficking. This statement sets out the steps Mintel Group Limited is taking to prevent these abhorrent practices within our own business and our supply chains, and is made in respect of our financial year ending 30 September 2021.

Our business

Mintel Group Limited are the experts in what consumers want and why. As the world’s leading market intelligence agency, our analysis of consumers, markets, new products and competitive landscapes provides a unique perspective on global and local economies. Since 1972, our predictive analytics and expert recommendations have enabled our clients to make better business decisions faster. We have over 1140 employees worldwide and operate in Belfast, Bangkok, Chicago, Kuala Lumpur, London, Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Düsseldorf, Sydney and Tokyo.

Our supply chains

Our supply chains are relatively limited and include the following suppliers:

  • Professional services (e.g. external legal and financial advisors and training providers).
  • Real estate facilities management and staffing services (e.g. professional cleaning services).
  • Utilities and health and safety providers (e.g. providing hand sanitiser for use in our offices).
  • Communication services.
  • Data centres.
  • Information technology services (including technological devices).
  • Recruitment of employees and agency workers.
  • Waste and green services (e.g. recycling).
  • Marketing and research firms (consumer data).
  • Employee benefits companies.
  • Travel companies* (*limited use, due to COVID-19 travel restriction adherence).

Our policies on slavery and human trafficking

We are committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains or any part of our business. Our Anti-slavery and human trafficking policy reflects our commitment 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 does not take place in our supply chains. We are a long standing member of the Market Research Society and its applicable ethical codes of conduct. In addition, to further reflect our commitment to ensure modern slavery and human trafficking is prevented at Mintel’s place of business, we have invested in the following policies, positive actions and reporting practices:

  • Dedicated support to help confirm and support employees’ right to work status in their hiring country.
  • Establishment of a dedicated compliance committee, consisting of representatives of key departments in our organisation.
  • Whistleblowing policy and a dedicated disclosures team.
  • Building enhanced processes to ensure recruitment and selection processes are fair.
  • The formal establishment of our Corporate Social Responsibility Committee: MintelGives, provides an opportunity for employees to volunteer and fundraise for causes that reflect Mintel’s core values and creates a positive impact in our society. We have fundraised for humanitarian, environmental and social-mobility charities. Please visit our website to learn more about the work we do.
  • The establishment of our Eco focused group: MintelEco – personifies Mintel’s long term commitment to our environmental responsibilities, and we continue to strive to reduce or eliminate our impact on the environment. MintelEco provides an opportunity for beach and river clean-ups as well as tree planting and helping to improve air quality and noise pollution in schools. An example of one of our initiatives can be found via this link.

Our due diligence processes for preventing slavery and human trafficking

As part of our process to identify and mitigate risk, we have established a procurement and compliance team and established systems to:

  • Identify and assess potential risk areas in our supply chains.
  • Mitigate the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in our supply chains.
  • Monitor potential risk areas in our supply chains.
  • Protect whistleblowers.

To ensure that our key supply chains support our commitment to combat and prevent slavery and human trafficking, Mintel has implemented a supplier governance system. The system includes enhanced slavery and human trafficking due-diligence questionnaires. This system assists Mintel in evaluating the modern slavery and human trafficking risks posed by our suppliers, and helps us understand the steps being taken by suppliers to address such risks within their own businesses.

In 2021 we established a dedicated compliance committee whose primary function is to help combat slavery and human trafficking and prevent these abhorrent practices within our own business and our supply chains. Our compliance committee consisting of representatives of the following departments in our organisation:

  • Human Resources.
  • Data Security.
  • Data Protection Officer.
  • Legal.
  • Finance.
  • Procurement.

Our suppliers’ adherence to our values

We have zero tolerance to slavery and human trafficking. To ensure all those in our supply chain and contractors comply with our values, we have established enhanced due diligence and a supplier governance system.

Our training programmes

To ensure a high level of understanding of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains and our business, we have appropriate training available to applicable employees.

Our effectiveness in combating slavery and human trafficking

The following key performance indicators (KPIs) will be applied to measure how effective we have been to ensure that slavery and human trafficking is not taking place in any part of our business or supply chains:

  • Vetting procedures: the number or percentage of suppliers and sub-contractors that have been vetted for ethical labour practices.
  • Supplier screening: the type and amount of issues identified on screening suppliers and subcontractors.
  • Whistleblowing: the number of reported breaches in the past year.
  • Training: the number or percentage of applicable staff trained.
  • Remedial action: the instances of remedial action being needed.

This statement is approved by Mintel Group Limited’s Board of Directors for the purpose of section 54 (1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 compliance and will be reviewed and updated annually.


Peter I. Haigh
Global CEO
Date: September 2021