BAE Systems to implement Woolf Committee Recommendations
BAE Systems today announces a three-year programme that will fully implement and embed all 23 recommendations of the Woolf Committee Report. After a thorough review of the Report, an implementation programme has been developed that will deliver the Company’s goal to achieve benchmark standards of governance in the conduct of its day-to-day business.
The Woolf Committee, which was asked to examine the ethical principles and practices underlying the company’s business, identified various areas for further improvement that the Company should address in order to be recognised as a global leader in ethical business conduct.
Delivery of the programme and compliance with the recommendations, will be monitored on a regular basis by the Board’s Corporate Responsibility (CR) Committee, chaired by non-executive director Andy Inglis. The CR Committee will have the Board responsibility for the oversight and reporting on ethical business conduct. The internal governance structure will be determined through the work of the implementation programme.
In addition, and in line with one of the Woolf Committee recommendations, the Company will select an external auditor who will conduct an annual assurance review of its progress against the implementation programme. Their first report will be published in 2009 as part of the Company’s Corporate Responsibility Report.
The implementation programme will be managed by a dedicated programme director. The full implementation programme will be rolled out over the next three years.
The Woolf Committee was an independent Committee appointed by the Board of BAE Systems plc in June 2007 to carry out a comprehensive independent review of the Company’s ethical policies and processes and publicly report upon its findings. The Committee’s Terms of Reference required it to Identify the high ethical standards to which a global company should adhere; Identify the extent to which the Company may currently meet these standards; and recommend the action the Company should take to achieve such standards.
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