04 Foreword: Ian Powell06 The Judging Panel08 Chair of The Judging Panel: John Coombe

Building Public Trust Awards in the FTSE

10 People Reporting12 Reporting of Executive Remuneration 14 Tax Reporting16 Sustainability Reporting18 The Building Public Trust Award "For Telling It How It Is" in the FTSE 25020 The Building Public Trust Award "For Telling It How It Is" in the FTSE 100

Building Public Trust Award in the Public Sector (in association with the National Audit Office)

22 Introduction by Tim Burr23 Towards Best Practice Reporting in the Public Sector 24 The Building Public Trust Award "For Telling It How It Is" in the Public Sector

26 Contacts

3Contents

A Step Ahead

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5

I am delighted to introduce this year’s awards at which we again celebrate the best of corporate reporting by the UK’s leading quoted companies and public sector bodies. As in previous years, tonight’s winners are helping to set the standards of excellence in reporting that all organisations can aim for.

While these are my first Building Public Trust Awards as Chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers, I have taken a keen interest in them throughout the six years we have been presenting them. Like the forward-looking companies who will be in the spotlight tonight, these awards do not stand still, but evolve and expand each year in response to a changing economic and social environment.

This year sees an especially significant step forward reflected in a growing sustainability theme behind many of the awards. This reflects the huge transition that sustainability has made in recent years, as it moves from a stakeholder engagement priority to a mainstream strategic issue that companies and investors focus on in a much more serious and measurable way.

This shift is having two effects on external reporting. One is that it challenges companies more than ever to explain the ‘front end’ of the value creation process - the way they create value, rather than just the value that emerges. The other challenge is actually making businesses more sustainable. In combination, these shifts make explaining business performance much harder and more complex. It is clear the best investors are factoring in these issues to their strategic thinking and putting companies on the spot.

However, sustainability is only one aspect of excellence in reporting - and we are here to celebrate it in all its forms. So I congratulate the nominees and winners for all tonight’s awards. You are providing a lead and inspiration that others will follow. At a time when the global capital markets are under severe stress, clear communication about the underlying drivers of business value has never been more important.

4Foreword: Ian Powell

Ian Powell UK ChairmanPricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

6 7The Judging Panel

John Coombe(Chair of The Judging Panel)John Coombe is Chairman of Hogg Robinson Group plc and a Non Executive Director of HSBC Holdings plc and Home Retail Group plc. He is a Trustee of The Royal Academy of Arts Trust. Formerly he was CFO of GlaxoSmithKline plc, a member of the UK Accounting Standards Board and a member of the Supervisory Board of Siemens AG.

Sir John Bourn KCBSir John is Advisor to the Financial Reporting Council and Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics.

Anita SkipperAnita Skipper joined Morley Fund Management as Head of Corporate Governance in 1993. She is currently on the Board of the International Corporate Governance Network and a member of several corporate governance committees, including those of the ABI. She has played an important role in developing governance practices in the UK and worldwide.

Professor Sir Andrew LikiermanSir Andrew is Professor of Management Practice at the London Business School. He is also Non Executive Director of Barclays Bank and the Bank of England. His previous posts have included Non Executive Chairman of MORI and a Managing Director of HM Treasury.

Baroness Denise Kingsmill CBEBaroness Kingsmill originally rose to prominence as an employment lawyer. She became Deputy Chair of the Competition Commission in 1997 and in 2001 headed the UK Government’s task force into women’s employment. She chaired the Accounting for People Taskforce and is a Non Executive Director of British Airways and Advisor to The Royal Bank of Scotland Group and Member of Microsoft European Advisory Council.

Martin SinclairMartin Sinclair is Assistant Auditor General at the National Audit Offi ce, leading the NAO’s fi nancial audit practice. He has been with the NAO since 1981 and became a Board Member in 1999. He is a Council member of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), chairing CIPFA’s Accounting and Auditing Standards Panel.

Roger AdamsRoger Adams is Executive Director - Policy for the Association of Chartered Certifi ed Accountants (ACCA). He helped found the Global Reporting Initiative (1997) and Chairs its Technical Committee. Roger is a member of the Executive Board of the Prince of Wales’ “Accounting for Sustainability” project and is leading a sustainability project for the IFAC Professional Accountants in Business Committee. He represents ACCA on the Technical and Advisory Committees of the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB).

Philippa Foster Back OBEPhilippa Foster Back became Director of the Institute of Business Ethics in 2001. She was formerly Group Treasurer at EMI. She holds Non Executive Directorships including Institute of Directors and is a past president of the Association of Corporate Treasurers. She is Chair of the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust. In 2008, she was awarded the Marks and Spencer SIEFF Award.

Nick AndersonNick Anderson is Head of Research at Insight Investment, the asset management arm of HBOS. He has more than 20 years investment management experience, as both a fund manager and analyst. Nick joined Insight from Schroder Investment Management in 2003. He is a member of the UK Accounting Standards Board and the Corporate Reporting Users Forum.

Peter ElwinPeter Elwin is Head of Accounting and Valuation Research at Cazenove, advising institutions in Europe and the US, and corporate clients of JPMorgan Cazenove. He is a member of the UK Accounting Standards Board, the IASB’s Analyst Reporting Group, the Corporate Reporting Users Forum, and the JPMorgan Cazenove Pension Trustee Board.

Mark WadeDr Mark Wade is a Trustee of the Centre for Tomorrow’s Company, a member of the Supervisory Board of the European Academy of Business in Society, Executive Director of Renaissance2 and Non Executive Director of Future Considerations Ltd. Formerly Mark was Head of Sustainable Development Strategy, Policy & Reporting and Head of Sustainable Development Learning for Royal Dutch Shell plc.

8Chair of The Judging Panel: John Coombe

This is the sixth year in which PricewaterhouseCoopers has presented the Building Public Trust Awards, and the second in which I have had the honour of acting as Chair of The Judging Panel. As in my fi rst year, I have relished the opportunity to take part in the deliberations with such a distinguished and knowledgeable panel, and have found the experience of participating in the discussion both challenging and highly enjoyable. Put simply, my fellow panellists never miss a trick!

Indeed, I believe it is this collective rigour and insight on the part of the independent judging panel that makes these awards increasingly important to the market and coveted by companies. Two years ago, PwC decided to make the awards as comprehensive as possible by reviewing the reporting of every company in the FTSE 350, and singling out the top performers. So a crucial aspect of the awards’ appeal is that any FTSE 350-listed company or public sector body can win.

Quality versus quantityEach year, the panel’s deliberations are infl uenced by the ongoing evolution of the reporting environment. This time, I was struck by a recurrent issue that arose during the debate over almost every award: the need for all companies to strike the right balance between reporting large amounts of complex information, and making their reported information interesting and accessible to all parts of the potential readership.

My sense is that this is an increasingly diffi cult balance to get right. The constant requirement for companies to report more information means there is pressure for companies to focus on ensuring that their reporting is accurate rather than accessible. In extreme cases, this pressure can turn the annual report into a fi ling document designed to satisfy only the capital market regulators. This tension has clear implications for the quality and transparency of reporting.

Every company has a story to tell about its performance and prospects. If an annual report becomes a fi ling document, then it becomes much harder to tell that story, hampering clear communication between companies and all their stakeholders.

Size - and complexity - can matterThe balance between information and accessibility is also affected by the size and complexity of the company itself. A complex global business faces a huge challenge simply deciding what information to include in its annual report, and what to leave out or communicate via other channels (internet, corporate responsibility report, analysts’ briefi ngs and so on). Smaller businesses, and larger companies with relatively simple business models, have easier choices - and can often tell a clearer story as a result.

Our panel debate this year suggested that companies towards the lower end of our size range are increasingly seizing this opportunity by focusing more resources on getting their reporting right. While these resources are still well below those applied by multinationals, the benefi ts of smaller size and lesser complexity mean some smaller companies are achieving tremendous results in terms of their reporting.

Finally, I should like to thank PwC once again for giving me the opportunity to help celebrate excellence in corporate reporting here tonight. My thanks also go out to my fellow panel members, and − last but not least − to all companies who are committed to ‘telling it how it is’. They are what these awards are really all about.

John CoombeChair of The BPTA Judging Panel

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1110People Reporting

“A model for others to follow. The human capital strategy is fully described in the annual report, including its linkage to business performance and brand, while further detail on strategy and key processes is provided in the corporate responsibility report. The reporting around the key issue of organisational change - often under-reported by companies - is excellent. Vodafone also explains what it expects from its people in return for employing them.”

Winner: Vodafone Group Plc

Amlin plc“Of the nominated companies, Amlin gave the clearest and most compelling description of the role employees play in its execution of its strategy and achievement of its vision. The company’s people processes, future actions and targets are made crystal-clear, with a rigorous focus on key employee performance indicators.”

Highly commended (in alphabetical order)

GlaxoSmithKline plc“Clear and prominent disclosures on people management in the annual report, backed up by descriptions of key people policies and processes in the corporate responsibility report, along with employees’ role in environmental and community efforts. The people data is excellent on areas such as diversity and health & safety.”

It is axiomatic that people are a business’s greatest asset. In judging this award, reintroduced this year after a two-year gap, the panel were looking for companies that do not just pay lip-service to this mantra, but put it fully into effect. To do this, the panel assessed the extent to which the reported information enables stakeholders to make a balanced evaluation of the strength of human capital management and employment practice in the business. Both the breadth and quality of reporting were taken into account, alongside the description of the people strategy and how this relates to overall business performance, underpinned by relevant and robust human capital data with targets and/or benchmarks where appropriate. The judges’ assessment was based on the PwC Corporate Reporting Framework, through an analysis focused on four areas - market overview, human capital strategy, people processes, and human capital impact.

The judges noted that in general the quality of people reporting is improving, but that progress remains uneven across the market. While the vast majority of companies do highlight the importance of people in their annual reports, only around one third of these give a clear statement of their priorities around people management, and perhaps one in ten actually apply those priorities back into their businesses. The panel felt that the three shortlisted companies were among the leaders in putting their priorities into effect in this way.The three companies also took varying approaches to the way they divided their people information between their annual and corporate responsibility reports.

fulfi lled employees

Highly commended (in alphabetical order)

1312Reporting of Executive Remuneration

“Great reporting. A very clear summary of remuneration policy, reinforced through an innovative approach of detailing the impact of the policy on each director’s individual reward package, rather than on an aggregate basis. We also liked the clear linkage between the business strategy and annual bonus performance conditions. The use of tables was especially good, making this complex area accessible to people with little specialist knowledge.”

Winner: Aviva plc

BAE Systems plc“A very clear statement of the link between remuneration strategy, policy and package, with excellent use of charts to provide clarifi cation and business context - including showing the package’s balance and dependency on performance metrics.”

Royal Dutch Shell plc“Excellent disclosures of the total value of packages and outcomes, including calculation of the theoretical future gains on long-term incentive awards. The disclosure of remuneration principles was especially clear, and accessibility was aided by the inclusion of an executive summary highlighting the key issues covered in the remuneration report.”

Of all the various areas of corporate reporting, executive remuneration is among the most high-profi le, sensitive and heavily-scrutinised. In assessing the shortlisted companies for this award, the judges were looking for companies that reward their executives by reference to measures of long-term business success, and demonstrate robust remuneration committee processes through a clear account of the committee’s activities and decision-making. The panel also gave credit for clear disclosure of executive performance and its linkage to annual bonus payouts and the vesting of long-term incentives. In combination, these attributes result in annual remuneration disclosures that show the reader how the rewards accruing to executives are aligned with the value built for shareholders, and refl ect a strong commitment to best practice as recommended by bodies representing institutional investors.

In previous years the judging panel have noted that companies’ reporting on executive remuneration is on an evolutionary journey, as clarity gradually emerges about the ownership of the reporting process and about whether the primary aim is to provide information or comply with regulations. This year the judges were please to see a further improvement in quality, with the three shortlisted companies all reflecting the wider efforts seen among companies across the market to communicate more fully and clearly on this key issue. However, while the linkage between strategy, performance and reward is becoming clearer and more explicit, the panel still felt companies could do more to describe and demonstrate the management behaviours that their executive remuneration policies and processes are trying to encourage.

smart incentives = sustainable wealth creation

Highly commended (in alphabetical order)

1514Tax Reporting

“Brilliantly clear tax reporting. Tax is highlighted as an important consideration and risk for the business, addressed with the right focus and resources. The tax notes are readable and extensive, even indicating future tax performance. Kazhakhmys’ task is made simpler by the fact that it pays the lion’s share of its taxes in one jurisdiction, but overall it has done a superb job of explaining its tax strategy, governance and economic contribution.”

Winner: Kazakhmys PLC

Anglo American plc“An acknowledged leader in tax reporting, Anglo provides clear guidance on its tax strategy and the linkage to its wider strategy and principles. The reconciliation of the tax charge to statutory rate is transparent and easy-to-understand. The report stresses the company’s readiness to pay taxes and add value to society - a message that seems to be aimed at governments worldwide.”

Diageo plc“A clear statement of its tax strategy and how this affects its operations worldwide, with material risks disclosed and quantifi ed in an accessible way. The diagram communicating where the company’s money went and its cash value-added is especially impressive.”

Tax strategies and disclosures are key in delivering shareholder value and managing reputational risk, and are subject to growing scrutiny from investors, revenue authorities and public interest groups. This award recognises transparent disclosure of tax strategy and performance, and the wider impact of tax on the business and the jursidictions where it operates. So the judges were looking for clear disclosure and discussion of companies’ tax strategy, objectives and risk management, as well as the tax numbers - including an explanation of why the current tax charge is not simply the accounting profi t at the statutory tax rate. Credit was also given for a good explanation of how the company’s tax strategy and function are managed, and who in the organisation has responsibility for governance and oversight.

In assessing the companies nominated for this award, the judges noted that companies face a delicate balancing act in their tax reporting. On the one hand, they want to emphasise their positive total tax contribution to the societies in which they operate. On the other, they want to show shareholders that they are managing their tax exposures and risks prudently and effectively. The three shortlisted companies all took different approaches to this dilemma, each reflecting the scope and complexity of their own businesses. But the judges felt they all succeeded in achieving a high level of clarity, transparency and accessibility for such a technically complex area. More generally, the panel felt that companies’ tax reporting has advanced in the past year, especially in their growing acceptance of the value of focusing on total tax contribution.

taxes = hospitals, schools...

Highly commended (in alphabetical order)

1716Sustainability Reporting

“Outstanding reporting by a company in the earlier stages of the sustainability journey. Sustainability is clearly integral to M&S’s corporate strategy and deeply embedded throughout its business, refl ecting the importance that its customers and investors place on this issue. Its reporting is supported by robust governance structure and processes. Stakeholder engagement is clearly reported, as are targets and performance against them.”

Winner: Marks and Spencer Group plc

Royal Dutch Shell plc“Highly sophisticated and ambitious reporting. Shell has been focusing on sustainability for many years, and shows great maturity and insight in its analysis of the long-term dilemmas around energy security and climate security. Sustainability is shown to be aligned with corporate strategy and importantly executive remuneration."

Xstrata plc“If you were writing a text book on sustainability reporting, this would be a good model to use. A very balanced analysis of both the upsides and the challenges across its business, the reporting shows close alignment between commercial and sustainability issues, with drill-downs demonstrating how objectives are being delivered on the ground. This isn’t just good news reporting, but feels very open and honest.”

Sustainability has now moved decisively from the fringes of corporate reporting to the strategic mainstream. As a result, measuring and reporting on sustainability issues is now a prerequisite - so this award has been introduced this year to assess and reward the depth and relevance of companies’ reporting on this increasingly critical and high-profi le issue. In judging the nominations, the judges were looking for fi ve attributes. Firstly, factoring of sustainable development issues into core business strategy; secondly, evidence of an understanding of the impacts of sustainable development issues both within and beyond the company and wider world; thirdly, evidence of appropriate governance policies, targets and objectives; fourthly, identifi cation and explanation of relevant key performance indicators; and fi nally, evidence of appropriate performance monitoring and reporting on the company’s priority issues around sustainable development.

The judges felt that the three nominated reports exemplified the positioning of companies at three distinct stages of maturity on sustainability issues. The panel noted that this divergence is mirrored in the wider market, with all companies progressing along a journey regarding the management and reporting of sustainability performance. This reflects the fact that businesses are increasingly coming to recognise that this is becoming business critical and must be seen as responsible and sustainable - and providing metrics to support this perception - are vital if they are to retain the support of all key stakeholders, including customers, investors and governments. This imperative applies across all sectors, encompassing not just those companies traditionally associated with sustainability issues, such as the extractive industries, but also now to other industries from retailing to financial services to technology & communications.

responsible sourcing

Highly commended (in alphabetical order)

1918The BPT Award "For Telling It How It Is" in the FTSE 250

“Excellent reporting from many different perspectives. All narrative disclosures are underpinned by clear strategic information linked to key performance indicators, with good detail on management of resources and relationships. Comprehensive forward-looking information, including market trends and targets. This is a very complex business, but the overview and use of colour-coding make its annual report easy for anyone to navigate and understand. Well done!”

Winner: Amlin plc

Tomkins plc“Sets out clear priorities from the start, supported by a balanced set of fi nancial and non-fi nancial performance indicators. The segmental reviews give superb insight into strategic plans, market conditions and company performance. The company’s reputation as a leader in fi nancial reporting is reinforced by its detailed yet highly accessible fi nancial review."

Great Portland Estates plc“An annual report that is both visually attractive and highly informative. Case studies and great photographs are used to enliven and illustrate the strategy information - supported by balanced key performance indicators and detailed historic and future market analysis. The explanation and coverage of key risks is comprehensive and accessible, with references to further information elsewhere in the report. Outstanding reporting, beautifully presented.”

This award was introduced three years ago, in response to requests from FTSE 250 companies for an award judged separately from their FTSE 100 counterparts. These requests were prompted by the fact that FTSE 250 companies generally have fewer resources to devote to reporting and are less complicated businesses than their FTSE 100 peers, so this award provides them with more of a level playing-fi eld on which to perform. As with the BPT Award for the FTSE 100 that follows, the judges assessing the nominated companies were looking for consistent excellence across the three key pillars of corporate reporting: Content - a holistic picture of management’s view of the business, its strategy and performance; Quality - a forward-looking narrative supported by quantifi ed data, targets, benchmarking and key performance indicators; and Linkage - accessible reporting, well-structured and non-repetitive, with a common voice throughout.

The judges felt that the three nominated companies exemplified the wide diversity that characterises the FTSE 250 - an attribute that is also reflected in the varying depth and transparency of reporting by FTSE 250 businesses overall. The panel were delighted by the high quality achieved by all the shortlisted companies, feeling they were on a par with the level of reporting seen across much of the FTSE 100. This consistent quality among the three shortlisted, coupled with the sharp contrasts between them as businesses, led to a lively discussion over who should be named as the winner. It was a close-run thing - but ultimately Amlin won the nod, primarily because of its outstanding ability to explain very complex issues in a clear, accessible and matter-of-fact way.

fair supply chains

Highly commended (in alphabetical order)

2120The BPT Award "For Telling It How It Is" in the FTSE 100

The Capita Group Plc“Last year’s winner has once again produced an outstanding and very businesslike annual report, using strategy as the backbone. The analysis of the critical resources that underpin Capita’s business model shows clearly how the business wins and retains customers. The structure and signposting are outstanding, making the annual report easy-to-navigate and very consistent - open any page and the core strategic goals are reinforced.”

Winner: Anglo American plc

“Candid, comprehensive reporting, with a clear and concise structure and layout throughout the annual report, signposting key points of information and enabling direct and easy access to them. The segment disclosures are highly impressive, including insights into market trends and strategic ambitions as well as fi nancial performance. The use of tables is excellent, especially the one summarising the strategic aims, focus areas and Key Performance Indicators, together with results and targets.”

BT Group plc“BT does a great job of describing a highly complex business. The annual report is kicked off by an excellent ‘at a glance’ section introducing BT’s strategy, values, structure and performance, which are then expanded on throughout, including a detailed analysis of how different customer types are managed. The sheer size of BT’s disclosures can make it diffi cult for some readers to follow, but BT does all it can to help by showing consistent messaging and themes across all its mediums of communications.”

As in the preceding award for the FTSE 250, reporting excellence for FTSE 100 companies is achieved through a balance between the three pillars of reporting: content, quality and linkage. However, while the judges were looking for the same qualities as in the FTSE 250, they took into account FTSE 100 companies’ generally greater size, complexity and (often global) reach. So, as in previous years, the panel focused particularly on how successfully the nominated companies managed to create an all-round and balanced view of their businesses. This involved asking some searching questions. In terms of content, did the reported information include all the elements that readers would expect to see, and focus in on the key messages? Within quality, did the company use only qualitative information, or support it with quantitative data, benchmarks and targets covering the past, present and future? And, within linkage, did the various elements of the report relate back to the strategic themes set out as key to company success?

The judges were impressed by the detail, transparency and accessibility of the information in all three shortlisted annual reports, but felt that each of them excelled in different areas. While all three nominees used their corporate strategy as the bedrock and core thread of their reporting, their diverse approaches to building on that base reflected the challenges raised when managements are striving to report in a coherent, consistent way on a large and diverse business. Equally difficult is the task of trying to meet the information needs of a wide array of stakeholders, from private investors to global institutions and regulators. The panel felt all three companies succeeded in these aims, testament to these businesses’ firm grip on their own strategy and information, and their shared commitment to remaining in the forefront of corporate reporting practice.

dividends = pensions

2322

Once again this year, the National Audit Offi ce is delighted to have teamed up with PwC as co-sponsor of the Building Public Trust Award “For Telling It How It Is” in the Public Sector. The award continues to play an important role in our efforts to encourage and recognise the ongoing improvement in organisational reporting across the public sector.

As in previous years, the shortlisted organisations have set a benchmark that the majority of public sector bodies should aim for. In doing so, they have once again illustrated that the UK is continuing to push back the boundaries of public sector reporting.

To select the shortlist for the award, the joint PwC/NAO review team examined the reporting by over 130 public sector organisations, under a process described more fully on the opposite page. This involved applying a tailored version of the PwC Corporate Reporting Framework to identify organisations with the highest-quality reporting.

As well as quality and transparency of reporting we were also interested in value-for-money for the taxpayer, and the panel commented on the need for the level of information and the quality of documentation to be balanced against the costs of production.

Continuous improvement of the best public sector reporting is essential to enhance the information available to the wide range of stakeholders that public sector organisations engage with. This year’s award provides further evidence that public sector reporting is continuing to get better by the year and the National Audit Offi ce will continue to support this ongoing improvement.

Introduction by Tim Burr

Earlier in this publication, we explained that we had expanded the reach of our private sector awards last year by switching from a self-nomination process to one based on a review of every company in the FTSE 350. This year we have introduced a similar process for the public sector, moving from last year’s combination of self-nominations and wider screening, to an approach based completely on independent screening.

Applying this process to produce the shortlist, we assessed the quality of reporting by over 130 organisations (up from 100 in 2007), including central government departments, large government agencies, and several NHS and local government bodies.

With each of these organisations, we used a tailored version of the PwC Corporate Reporting Framework to perform a similar screening for content, quality and linkage as we applied to their private sector counterparts. The outputs from this initial screening were then scrutinised and discussed by a specially-convened public sector judging panel, which produced a shortlist consisting of the three fi nalists for consideration by the main judging panel.

As well as producing the shortlist, the screening process also gave rise to some interesting conclusions. While the three nominated reports represented excellent public sector reporting, the research team felt that their quality was broadly similar to the standards set by last year’s shortlist, rather than raising the bar. However, it was also noted that the organisations in the ‘middle ground’ of public sector reporting quality had improved their reporting substantially in the past year. So the gap is narrowing between the best and the rest - meaning the best must raise their game even further to stay ahead.

Towards Best Practice Reporting in the Public Sector

Tim Burr Comptroller and Auditor GeneralNational Audit Offi ce

Highly commended (in alphabetical order)

2524The BPT Award "For Telling It How It Is" in the Public Sector

“Last year’s runner-up scoops the prize this year with a concise, accessible annual report and business plan, using plain English to describe issues that matter to the general public. The organisation’s purpose and key stakeholder - road users - are introduced at the start of the annual report and developed throughout, with a strong focus on customers. The coverage of environmental performance is especially comprehensive. This report is a benchmark for much of the public sector.”

Winner: Highways Agency

Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency“An honest and open annual report, presenting performance measures that match the strategic outputs and targets identifi ed in the business plan are in the Annual Report. The judges were especially impressed by the inclusion of the section headed ‘Things we could have done better’, and by the clear use of charts and graphs in the management commentary.”

The Crown Estate“Superb signposting to the right information - page 2 of the annual report contains a segmental breakdown that points the reader to relevant sections. And the information is presented in a clear and readable way, enlivened by case studies on customers and the business. The report also goes beyond the statutory reporting requirements in areas such as board meeting attendance and the ten-year summary.”

In assessing the quality of reporting by the public sector bodies on the shortlist, the judging panel was looking for public sector reporting with several attributes mirroring the criteria applied to the private sector awards. These included: a clear articulation of strategy linked directly to objectives and targets; high-quality (rather than simply more) information; and good use of external references to show relative performance. In reaching their decision, the judges focused on the amount, quality, scope and robustness of the reporting in four key areas: the service delivery environment; the organisational strategy and structure; clarity around how the delivery of key objectives is managed; and clear, well-supported performance statements, both fi nancial and non-fi nancial.

The judging panel was impressed by the quality of reporting by all three shortlisted bodies, and by the attractive designs used to make their annual reports more accessible to readers. However, some members commented that they felt the quality of the shortlisted reports was actually no higher than last year’s. This concern reflected a continuing view among the judges, also voiced last year, that much public sector reporting still contains a significant element of advocacy − essentially ‘promoting’ rather than ‘explaining’ − despite an ongoing and welcome shift towards ‘telling it how it is’. On balance, though, the judges congratulated all three organisations on the shortlist over their evident efforts to be transparent and open in their reporting.

resource usage

26Contacts

People ReportingRichard Phelpsrichard.phelps@uk.pwc.comT: 020 7804 7044

Reporting of Executive RemunerationSean O’Haresean.o.hare@uk.pwc.comT: 020 7804 9264

Tax ReportingDavid Claytondavid.clayton@uk.pwc.com T: 020 7804 3634

Sustainability ReportingAlan McGillalan.d.mcgill@uk.pwc.comT: 020 7212 4348

BPTA “For Telling It How It Is” in the FTSE 100 & 250David Phillipsdavid.michael.phillips@uk.pwc.comT: 020 7804 5055

BPTA “For Telling It How It Is” in the Public SectorClive Everestclive.m.everest@uk.pwc.comT: 020 7213 5497

General EnquiriesDenise Gleesondenise.gleeson@uk.pwc.comT: 020 7804 6227

The School for Social EntrepreneursAddresses inequalities and social exclusion by supporting social entrepreneurs in transforming their talent into real social outcomes.

TaxAidHelps people on low incomes who are in crisis with their tax.

In celebration of the Awards this year a donation has been made to the following:

Volunteer Reading HelpProvides one-to-one personalised reading support to 6-11 year olds who have difficulty with their reading.

Enterprise Education TrustEmpowers young people to realise their potential through business and enterprise.

The Carbon TrustOffers products and services to help businesses reduce carbon emissions and accelerate the move to a low carbon economy.

Trust for Urban EcologyCreates green spaces in the urban environment and promotes access to nature through community involvement.

Tomorrow’s PeopleHelps the hardest to reach out of welfare dependency and into jobs and self sufficiency.

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©2008 PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. All rights reserved.PricewaterhouseCoopers refers to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (a limited liability partnership in the United Kingdom) or, as the context requires, other member firms of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited, each of which is a separate and independent legal entity.

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