ANTI-SLAVERY STATEMENT 2022/23

INTRODUCTION

At Rural Media Charity and Rural Studios (hereafter known as ‘Rural Media’) we are committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking within our organisation, or with any the third parties we work with. We recognise that, as we continue our growth journey, the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking may increase across our organisation, and supply chain, and we are actively taking steps to address this.

As part of this commitment, we are constantly reviewing our internal processes to identify key risks and risk areas, and create new policies to develop awareness of these across the organisation.

PEOPLE

Modern slavery and human trafficking do not just present risks in supply chains, but in all areas of the organisation including our own workplace. In order to continue to manage and mitigate such risks in our own hiring practices, our Production and Operations team has extensive recruitment processes. We are committed to making sure that our employees can make their own choice to accept or reject employment offers, and we will continue to review the ways in which we can develop new processes for recognising and reporting risks within our organisation.

POLICIES AND TRAINING

We ensure that our suppliers are issued with our Code of Conduct, which sets out our ethical and environmental expectations. We have committed to review and update this policy in 2023 to ensure it meets the highest standards of ethics.

Our internal policies and practices help to ensure that our staff are aware of the high standards we hold, and we set out clear processes in the event of non-compliance. All of our employees are provided with access to our policies upon joining the organisation, and they are required to complete a sign off on specific policies acknowledging that they have read and understood them.

We have also identified areas where internal organisation policy is key to mitigating risks of human trafficking and modern slavery, and we regularly review our policies including:

Our Whistleblowing policy

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policy

Our Safeguarding policy

Our Recruitment policy

Moving forward, training is a key area of focus for us to ensure that the entire organisation is aware of the potential risks associated with modern slavery and human trafficking. We will monitor our development as we implement changes within the organisation and continue to identify and address new risk areas.

APPROVAL FROM OUR BOARD

We understand that our members and other stakeholders expect the highest standards of ethics and responsibility from us. We will continue to strengthen our processes in the 2022/23 financial year. This statement reflects steps taken by Rural Media and as approved by our Board of Trustees