Charity Family Modern Slavery Statement

Our statement in full.

Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity (“GOSH Charity”) understands and recognises that slavery and human trafficking are causes 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 business, 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 2020, and builds upon the Statement released for the previous financial year which can be found here.

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 (“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, raises money to fund pioneering child health research across the UK. Sparks helps to find new treatments and cures for children who desperately need them. Sparks is 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).

The Charity Family continues to harness the expertise of a range of suppliers (some of which are based outside of the United Kingdom) for various activities carried out both internally and externally. The Charity Family’s suppliers may assist with the provision of goods for us to sell in our online shop, or they may provide services at one of the Charity Family events. Suppliers also support the day-to-day operations of each organisation – GOSH Charity, GOSIPL and Sparks.

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 2019/20 Statement, We are continuing a detailed review of the Charity Family’s supply chain and procurement processes, assisted by a newly created Contracts Register (which enables us to monitor historic and new contracts including, but not limited to, how they comply with our Statement), to:

1. assess the risks of slavery and human trafficking
2. enable us to implement appropriate protections and seek assurances where required
3. ensure that the Charity Family has a solid foundation for monitoring and mitigating risks, and
4. for compliance purposes. 

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. All our policies are regularly reviewed and updated to ensure they address the modern slavery risk.

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.

Due diligence checks continue to be undertaken on prospective suppliers to the Charity Family, using a proportionate risk-based approach, which will be further supported by our Contract Register.

We understand the importance of being vigilant so that We can quickly identify and address any issues associated with slavery and human trafficking. The Charity Family is committed to continually develop and improve this Statement and the protections in place. Around the beginning of each financial year, the Charity Family will release an updated version of this Statement.

This Statement is approved by:

Anne Bulford

The Chair of Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity

Professor Stephen Holgate

The Chair of Sparks Charity