Action
Progress and our plan
A continued focus on strategy and strategic discussion
• One day dedicated strategy session now held annually, attended by all divisional Managing Directors and by brokers and advisers to provide an external and wider market perspective • Ensuring strategy is more of an ongoing Board discussion between annual strategy days rather than a once a year activity given the fast-paced and dynamic markets that the Group operates in • Shifting Board discussion away from short-term tactical issues to more longer-term strategic issues • Actions from dedicated strategy day circulated to the Board with a check-in on strategy halfway through the year • Nomination Committee meetings now being held with a programme of four Committee meetings planned every year with the Committee moving away from a transactional Committee (e.g. to recruit a new Director) to a more holistic view encompassing: future skills needs, talent pipelines, diversity, succession planning, and reviewing leadership needs of the Company • Nomination Committee continuing strong focus on succession planning for the Board and senior management • Chris Stone (Nomination Committee Chair) and Michelle Porteus (Global Chief People Officer) are now meeting regularly and discussing a separate workstream on succession planning • Global Director of Sustainability and Corporate Affairs taken on ESG lead within the Group and presents every six months to the Board • Gap analysis has been undertaken to provide an action plan to close the gaps and an ESG framework has now been developed • Policies have been refreshed and standardised (e.g. Code of Ethics and Modern Slavery). The whole organisation has undertaken Code of Ethics refresher training • Increasing recognition that this area will become an ever-more important area for new and existing clients and investors when they are evaluating who to buy from and partner with/invest in • Improving the visibility of what the organisation is doing with regard to ESG and ensuring that all the ESG initiatives and activities are being properly recorded and reported • TCFD is reported on page 39. A TCFD Steering Group has been formed. We also have a partnership with Planet Mark to improve our carbon measuring and reduce our overall emissions as a Group • Partnerships with external organisations continue to be developed, e.g. we have now partnered with Planet Mark to gain focused and specific expertise on climate change in line with TCFD reporting
An increased focus on succession planning and ensuring that these plans are reviewed on a regular basis
An increased focus on CSR/ESG (labelled as “sustainability” internally)
Progress from the previous year The 2022 evaluation process also reviewed progress on actions identified in previous evaluation processes.
Areas identified in previous evaluations 2022 evaluation – progress
An increased focus on succession planning and ensuring that these plans are reviewed on a regular basis An increased focus on CSR/ESG A continued focus on strategy and strategic discussion Enhancing Board interactions and communications with the Company and its customers Developing Board involvement in the Group’s culture related initiatives
Good progress has been made and is firmly on the Board’s and Nomination Committee’s agenda with a firm commitment to have at least 33% female representation on the Board and at least one person of colour by 2024 (see above table for further details).
Progress has been made in relation to CSR/ESG; however, this remains a key area of focus (see above table for further details). Good progress, with the 2022 strategy day again felt to be very good and building on previous strategy day sessions (see above table for further details). Some further work was perhaps needed on clearly defining the strategy across the whole Group, i.e. at lower levels within the Company. A new and highly experienced Director of Commercial Finance has been recruited, further improving the strategic discussion. Good progress. The Board has continued to interact with a significant number of colleagues on both a Company-wide basis and via receiving presentations from various members of the ExCom plus senior managers. There are regular updates on customers within the CEO’s report, although ways to improve the “customer voice” in the boardroom would be reviewed along with opportunities for the Board to meet with some customers on occasions throughout the year.
Good progress has been made in a number of areas (see above table for further details).
NCC Group plc — Annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 May 2022
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