Modern Slavery Act Transparency Statement 2024

Melton Renewable Energy UK Limited

Statement issued in accordance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (“the Act”) in relation to the period 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024 (“the Statement Period”).

Introduction from the Chief Executive Officer

We remain committed to improving our practices to combat slavery and human trafficking, with a view to ultimately achieving the best possible practices in this regard.

Organisation's structure
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We are the parent company of the Melton Renewable Energy UK Limited group (the Group). The Group is a renewable power generator operating from a number of sites in England and Scotland. The Group has around 276 employees.

In the Statement Period the Group had an annual turnover of £156.1m (unaudited at this time), all of which was generated from within the United Kingdom.

Our business
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Our core business comprises:

• the ownership and operation of five biomass power stations in England and Scotland including procurement and delivery of associated fuels together with the Fibrophos fertiliser business through the Energy Power Resources group; and
• the ownership and operation of landfill gas generation assets located at 19 landfill sites across England and Scotland through the CLP Envirogas group; and
• the provision of management services in respect of one construction and two operating generation assets, comprising the oversight of EPC and O&M contractors and provision of the finance and biomass fuel procurement services.

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‍Our supply chains
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Aside from services provided to the Group by regulated advisors, which services we consider to be low risk in the present context, our supply chains include:
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• biomass fuel suppliers: we have a large number of contracts in place which provide for the sale and purchase of biomass products (including poultry litter, arboricultural waste, straw, horse-bedding, meat and bone meal and waste wood), and the collection and delivery thereof for use as fuel in our power stations.
• landfill operators: the landfill sites from which we operate are owned and/or managed by either local councils or private waste management companies. Our activities and these relationships are governed by gas supply agreements.
• engineering and construction contractors: each of our sites is subject to planned and unplanned maintenance, repairs, and modifications which require us to engage a number of engineering and construction contractors on a regular basis.

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Our policies on slavery and human trafficking

We are committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our supply chains or in any part of our business. Our Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy (see link below) reflects our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business relationships and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure slavery and human trafficking is not taking place anywhere in our supply chains.

Anti-Slavery and Human-Trafficking Policy

Due diligence processes for slavery and human trafficking
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As part of our initiative to identify and mitigate risk we have raised this as a particular issue with relevant members of the management team (including in particular the CEO, Legal Counsel and the fuel supply team). We have carefully considered our various supply chains and identified particular areas of risk, it being noted that our fuel supply involves food production, agriculture and transportation all of which have been identified as industry sectors presenting a potentially higher risk.

We have in place systems to:

• Identify and assess potential risk areas in our supply chains.
• Mitigate the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in our supply chains.
• Encourage vigilance as to potential risk areas in our supply chains.
• Encourage whistle-blowing and protect whistle blowers.

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Supplier adherence to our values

We have zero tolerance to slavery and human trafficking. To ensure those in our supply chains as well as our contractors comply with our values, we have put in place a supply chain compliance programme.
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In this regard, all of our standard form contracts include a positive obligation requiring compliance by the supplier or contractor with our Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy (or, in certain cases, with the Act) and provide that an entitlement to terminate shall arise in our favour if the supplier or contractor is found to be in breach of the Policy (or the Act, as the case may be).

Ongoing compliance with the Act is monitored by the senior management team and in particular by the CEO, Legal Counsel and the fuel team.

Training
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To ensure a high level of understanding of the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking in our supply chains and our business, we have provided training to such of our staff members as are likely to be affected by the Act and its requirements. We will be issuing in-person refresher training to all staff members in the coming months (see below).
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Further steps to be taken in the Statement Period
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In addition to the above, during the Statement Period we have continued to monitor compliance with the Act generally across our supply chain and specifically issued compliance statements to our contractors and suppliers, requesting their confirmation that no slavery or human trafficking has taken place in their business or supply chains in the 12-month period ended 30 June 2023 and followed up any contractors and suppliers that failed to provide this confirmation in a timely fashion.

Further steps to be taken
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During the 12 month period to 30 June 2025 we shall:

• issue compliance statements to our contractors and suppliers requesting their confirmation that no slavery or human trafficking has taken place in their business or supply chains in the Statement Period and follow up any contractors and suppliers that fail to provide this confirmation in a timely fashion;
• issue in-person refresher training to all relevant staff members, and
• continue to monitor compliance with the Act more generally.​

This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes the Group's slavery and human trafficking statement for the 12-month period ended 30 June 2024.

Signed:……………………………
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‍Director E J Wilkinson
‍Melton Renewable Energy UK Limited
Date: 26 July 2024
Board approval obtained on 25 July 2024

Modern Slavery Act statements from previous years can be accessed here.