Charity Family Modern Slavery Statement

Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity (“GOSH Charity”) recognises that slavery and human trafficking are extremely serious human rights violations and cause for increasing concern throughout the world. This is especially relevant and worrying to us when this impacts the lives and wellbeing of children. As a result, it is important that we, our trading subsidiary and research-focused subsidiary (which together are the “Charity Family” and/or “We”) never find ourselves in a position where We are directly or indirectly facilitating slavery or human trafficking.

We continue to take a zero-tolerance approach to slavery and human trafficking, and are resolute to identify and eliminate this, or any elements of it, within our business and supply chain.

This Modern Slavery Statement (“Statement”) is made pursuant to section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (“Act”) and constitutes the entire Statement for the Charity Family for the financial year following 31 March 2021, and builds upon the previous Statements:

• 2019/2020
• 2020/2021

GOSH Charity is a registered charity in England and Wales (registered charity number 1160024) and is registered as a company limited by guarantee (company number 09338724). GOSH Charity raises money to enable Great Ormond Street Hospital (“the Hospital”) to provide world-class care to children and to pioneer new treatments and cures for childhood illnesses. The support GOSH Charity provides to the Hospital is concentrated in four main areas: redevelopment and refurbishment, pioneering research, advanced medical equipment and support services including accommodation for patient families.

GOSH Charity uses a wholly-owned subsidiary company, Great Ormond Street International Promotions Limited (“GOSIPL”) (company number in England and Wales 02265303) to record its activity classed as trading, for example, the selling of GOSH Charity branded clothing and gifts.

Sparks Charity (“Sparks”), a wholly owned subsidiary of GOSH Charity has, up until 31st March 2021, raised money to fund pioneering child health research across the UK. Sparks helped to find new treatments and cures for children who desperately needed them. Whilst Sparks has now discontinued trading, it remains, until fully closed during the course of this financial year, a registered charity in England and Wales (registered charity number 1003825) and Scotland (registered charity number SC039482) and is also registered as a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales (company number 02634037).

Our suppliers are predominantly UK-based and required to comply with UK legislation. We will continue to focus on the engagement of those suppliers which operate in sectors and jurisdictions at a higher risk from slavery and human trafficking.

In line with the spirit of the Act (that organisations should adopt an approach of continuous improvement in relation to their actions to tackle slavery and human trafficking), and building upon our 2020/21 Statement, and the establishment of a central Contracts Register which enables the Governance, Legal and Compliance team to centrally monitor and report on our suppliers and their associated contracts, during the course of the 2020/21 financial year:

1. We rolled out a training programme across the Charity Family to provide our staff with an increased awareness of the Contracts Register and the Act; and
2. This training highlighted the steps to be taken to assess the risks of slavery and human trafficking in the Charity Family’s existing supply chains and when considering suppliers to onboard.

During the course of the 2021/22 financial year, this training shall continue and will develop as the Act evolves.

We are committed to making all our staff aware of the Charity Family’s views in relation to slavery and human trafficking. The policies we have in place provide guidance on areas such as whistleblowing, procurement and safeguarding. During the 2021/22 financial year our procurement policy will be refreshed, which will aid the onboarding of new suppliers to assist in ensuring the Charity Family’s continued compliance with the Act.

In addition, our policies continue to be provided to our suppliers on the basis that if We engage a supplier, it is expected that they, their employees and anyone they engage with, should comply with the principles set by the Charity Family.

We undertake due diligence checks on prospective suppliers, using a proportionate risk-based approach, supported by our Contracts Register.

We understand the importance of being vigilant so that We can quickly identify and address any issues related to our activities associated with slavery and human trafficking. The Charity Family remains committed to continually developing and improving the protections We have in place and We will release an updated version of this Statement at least annually.

This Statement is approved by:

Anne Bulford

Chair, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity

Professor Stephen Holgate

Chair, Sparks Charity

1st April 2021