Section 172 of the Companies Act 2006 requires each director to act in the way they consider, in good faith, would most likely promote the success of the Group for the benefit of its shareholders. In doing this, the director must have regard, amongst other matters, to:

• the likely consequences of any decision in the long term;
• the interests of the Group's employees;
• the need to foster the Group's business relationships with suppliers, customers and others;
• the impact of the Group's operations on the community and the environment;
• the Group's reputation for high standards of business conduct; and
• the need to act fairly as between members of the Group.

The board has complied with these requirements. Details of the board's decisions in 2023 to promote long-term success, and how it engaged with stakeholders and considered their interests when making those decisions, can be found throughout this strategic report and in the governance report.

A key board decision is ensuring that we continue to have the right strategy in place for sustainable growth. Details of our strategy, how it is resourced and the value generated for stakeholders are set out in the strategic report. The board monitors the Group's culture to ensure that high standards of business conduct are maintained.

Open, constructive dialogue with our employees and other key stakeholders is critical to inform the board's decisions. Whilst the board has overall responsibility for managing relationships with all our stakeholders, some stakeholder groups are most practicably engaged with directly by Group companies. The board supervises this engagement with their stakeholders, principally through quarterly management meetings between the boards of each Group company and the executive directors.

The board has identified its and the Group's key stakeholders as our shareholders, employees and funders. With facilitation through Group departmental activity our Group companies manage relationships with their employees, clients, supply chain partners and local communities. Details of how we have engaged as a Group with our stakeholders can be found on Engaging with Our Stakeholders of the strategic report. The board's direct engagement with stakeholders is described on Corporate Governance Report in the governance report, the board's key decisions and the stakeholder groups considered during the decision-making process, and the board's monitoring of the Group's culture is described on Corporate Governance Report.

The board monitors the Group's performance in relation to safety and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and waste on a monthly basis.

Approval of strategic report

The strategic report is approved by the board and signed on its behalf by:

Mark Sanderson

Company secretary

14 June 2023