Sustainability Highlights 2012 Summary(1)

7/28/2019 Sustainability Highlights 2012 Summary(1)

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Northumbrian Water Limited

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01 Highlights

02 Chie executive ofcers introduction

06 Our corporate responsibility

08 Our risks and uncertainties

10 Our operating perormance customer

10 Putting customers rst

10 Aordability

11 Business customers

11 Leisure customers

12Our operating perormance competitiveness

12

Research and development

12

Procurement

14Our operating perormance people

14

Code o conduct

14 People strategy and policy

15 Valuing

diversity

15 E

ngaging leadership and management

15 Committed team of people

15 Supporting wellbeing

16

Encouraging personal growth

18 Our operating perormance environment

18 Our external environment

19 Water quality

19 Water resources

20 Waste water

21 Carbon management

22 Climate change

23 Waste and recycling

23 Quality

24Our operating perormance communities

24

Investment in our communities

25

Participation in our communities

26

Educating our communities about their environment

26

Supporting healthy communities

27

Supporting developing communities

through WaterAid

28Sustainability at a glance

Contents

Our VisionTo be the national leader in the provision ofsustainable water and waste water services.

Northumbrian Water Limited (NWL) is one of the ten regulated water andsewerage businesses in England and Wales.

NWL operates in the north east of England, where it trades as NorthumbrianWater, and in the south east of England, where it trades as Essex & SuffolkWater. Northumbrian Water currently provides water and sewerage servicesto 2.7 million people and Essex & Suffolk Water provides water services to1.8 million people in a combined area of over 12,260 square kilometres.

11 Working in partnership

17 Communication

17 Disclosure (Whistleblowing)

17 Health and safety

17 Employee Share Incentive Plan

23 Biodiversity and conservation


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Customer satisactionwith our overall service

in the British Water annualprocurement perormancesurvey 2012 or the thirdyear running

school children reached

through interactive waterefciency productionsand workshops

Employees volunteered15,000 hours through our'Just an hour' volunteeringprogramme

Sewage treatment worksmet their consents or theourth year running. The bestrecord in the industry

Raised or WaterAid

Pre-tax proft investedin our communities

Employee turnover (waterindustry average 9.4%)

Employees are proudto work or NWL


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Our Vision

NWLs vision is to be the national leader in the provision

o sustainable water and waste water services.

Strategic direction

We want to continue to deliver value to customers and

other stakeholders by ocusing on our core competencies

o water and waste water management. We underpin our

drive to be the best with ve strategic themes containing

goals and targets that, when reached, will see our vision

and our values delivered. Our vision Our values Our wayhas been shared with all our employees during a series o

annual interactive roadshows and, as a result, there is

clarity and energy throughout the Company which is

driving the business orward.

The ve themes described below are mutually supportive

and achieving the right balance between them is essential

to our success and reputation.

Customer ocuses on delivering industry-leading

customer service. Our relationship with customers is

core to the success o our business and it is essential that

they trust our service. Customer service is at the heart othe Company and all employees have a clear ocus on

getting things right rst time every time. Although we

are required to meet regulated standards or customer

service, this should not dene our aspiration as the

quality o our service must go beyond that.

Competitiveness will drive us to greater eciency

and, indeed, to be the most ecient water company.

It is not just about driving cost down but using innovation

to support our activities.

People are our greatest asset and we want to be

recognised as a great company to work or with high

levels o satisaction rom our employees. We will

provide support and training and promote excellent

employee relations.

Environment is critical to us and our stakeholders

and we acknowledge our responsibilities to protect

and enhance the natural environment. Our carbon

management plan will help reduce our carbon ootprint

and we will adopt good environmental practice in allaspects o our activities.

Communities are important to us and we want to

build strong relationships with the communities we

serve. We will ensure that corporate responsibility is

embedded in perormance management and that we

benchmark ourselves against the best companies.

We have agreed specic goals to help us achieve

our vision against these themes, and have clear

accountability or their achievement throughout

the Company. These are measured in a balanced

scorecard which assesses our perormance against

key perormance indicators (KPIs). This is reviewed

by the Board, management team and all employees

on a monthly basis.

Values

Reputation

Customer

C

ompetitiveness

People

Environment

Communities

Vision


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We believe that clear direction and goals are key to

success, but just as important is a clear sense o values,

and how we do things around here. We have made a

clear commitment to ve core values.

One team we work together consistently, promoting

co-operation, to achieve our corporate objectives.

Customer focused we aim to exceed the expectations o

our external and internal customers.

Results driven we take personal responsibility

or achieving excellent business results.

Creative we continuously strive or innovative and better

ways to deliver our business.

Ethical we are open and honest in meeting our

commitments, with a responsible approach to the

environment and our communities.

2011/12

We were successul in meeting many o the

targets in our balanced scorecard during the year. We

improved in 26 o our 28 targets and achieved or

exceeded 19 o them. Most notable were the

improvements in our Service Incentive Mechanism (SIM)

score or customer service, the reduction in the number

o interruptions to supply and our position on leakage.

We were also very pleased to remain amongst the

industry leaders in sewage treatment perormance.

This report will also ocus on many highlights

throughout the year but the development o our work

to extend Abberton reservoir and the construction o

our second advanced anaerobic digestion plant at

Howdon, ater the successul operation at Bran Sands,

are particularly notable.

We also continued to receive external recognition or

our activities. For the second year running, the Ethisphere

Institute listed NWGL as one o the most ethical

companies in the world, one o seven UK only companieschosen and the only water utility selected worldwide.

This recognises the impact we have on underpinning

the communities in which we operate and also recognises

the longstanding relationships with key industrial and

commercial customers.

We continue to be actively involved in the business

community in all operating areas through direct

membership and involvement in the councils/boards

o the Conederation o British Industry (CBI), Chambers

o Commerce and other similar organisations. For my

part, I have been getting involved in a number o

organisations which I believe can inuence the uture

o the Company and locally I am a member o the

CBI Council and a member o its national Inrastructure

Board. I have also joined the Governments Green

Economy Council as the water industry representative

and hope that the Council can bring a real inuence

to the development o policy relating to a low

carbon economy.

This year, industrial demand has deteriorated, with

some prolonged shutdowns as a result of the economic

situation and lower volumes at many of our smaller

commercial customers. Domestic demand has alsostarted to reduce in some areas, as customers have

become aware of the restrictions in other parts of the

country and the importance of using water wisely. We

continue to monitor the situation and work closely with

our key industrial customers. The collection of income

remains a key focus for us, particularly in a difficult

economic climate.

continued


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Plans or 2012/13

We welcomed the publication of the Water White Paper in

late 2011 and broadly supported the Governments policy

intentions for the industry. We have provided evidence to

Government select committees and support the

continuing desire to build on the strengths of the current

industry structure and strongly agree that the sector will

need to continue to attract competitively priced

investment to enable it to build resilience, protect the

environment and continue to serve customers at a price

they can afford.

We are keen to continue to work closely with Defra and

the industrys regulators to ensure Governments policies

are implemented successfully as well as continuing to be

a significant partner with Government in delivering an

enhanced natural environment as well as growth of the

green economy.

We continue to be committed to any moves that can

deliver clear and demonstrable improvements for

customers, other stakeholders and the wider environment.

The coming year will bring fresh challenges as we strive to

achieve the goals we have set ourselves in order to achieve

our vision of becoming the national leader in the

provision of sustainable water and waste water services.

There is a strong sense of energy, commitment and

accountability throughout the Company and I am

confident of further success in the coming year.

Heidi Mottram

Chief Executive Officer

KielderWater


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NWL is expected to provide a secure supply o water,

a basic necessity or health, and to protect or enhance the

environment when we return waste to it. Our stakeholders

also expect us to:

behave airly and responsibly;

use resources wisely;

improve quality o lie; and

contribute to economic development.

We believe that sustainability helps to improve the

perormance o the Company and to achieve our businessstrategy and objectives. This is reected in our business

plan where our sustainability objectives are woven into

our core business strategy. Our credentials or our work

have been recognised and these are outlined on page 4.

Our customer research also highlights that customers

value the work o the Company in the community and

or the environment and it helps to build their trust in our

work. Each aspect o the highlighted work in this report

has a direct benet to the Company, its community and

its environment, such as cost saving, carbon reduction,

environmental impact, skills development or leverage.

Governance

To ensure that sustainability runs throughout the

business, we ensure that all parts o the Company are

involved rom the Board through to all employees.

Up to the point o the change o control, governance o

our sustainability activity was led by our Corporate

Responsibility Committee (CRC), a subcommittee o the

NWL Board. From October 2011, governance was led by

our Corporate Responsibility Management Group (CRMG)

a sub-committee o the NWL Management Team. The

CRMG will meet our times a year and non-executivedirectors and the CEO (who is directly accountable to the

NWL and NWGL Boards or both the environment and

sustainable development policies) will attend at least

once to develop strategy and to inorm the Board.

In addition, two CR Advisory Groups (CRAG) (one or each

oour Northumbrian and Essex and Suolkregions) act as

critical riend, helping to validate, guide and challenge

NWLs sustainability strategy and activities. The CRAGs are

made up o senior representatives rom key stakeholder

organisations to reect the main areas o our environment

and communities strategy.

Reedbeds

HowdonAAD


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The CR structure is described in the chart below.

CR management group comprises NWL directors andsenior managers who propose, drive, monitor andreview sustainability performance across NWL. Once ayear theyare joined by the CEO and non executivedirectors toreview sustainability activity, monitorcompany sustainabilityperformance and consideremerging sustainability issues. This is then reportedback to the Board.

CRAGs are made up of senior representatives frompartner organisations to reflect the key areas of ourcommunity strategy. There are two groups, one basedin our northernoperating area and one in our southernoperating area.

CR groups north and south are regional groups of

community and environmental employee champions

drawn from across the business to ensure communication

and influence is effective and widespread.

Working groups consist of specialists from across NWL

who come together to investigate, advise on and drive

change on specific projects such as waste and recycling,

carbon management and water efficiency.

Corporate ResponsibilityAdvisory Groups

porate responsibility managment group


Board oDirectors

Climate change Transport

Environmental Champions

Corporate Responsibility Group North Corporate Responsibility Group South

Community Champions

Charity Fundraising Committee

WaterAid Fundraising Committee

Waste and recycling Energy

Corporate Responsibility Managment Group


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NWGL requires all subsidiaries within the Group to identiy

and assess the impact o risks to their business using a

standard risk model. For each risk identied, the model

records the uncontrolled magnitude and likelihood o the

risks occurring as well as the controls in place to mitigate

those risks beore assessing the controlled magnitude.

NWGLs view o acceptable risk is based on a balanced

view o all o the risks in the operating environment. It

aims to ensure an appropriate balance between risk

aversion and opportunities.

NWGL sets the tone or risk management within the

Group and determines the appropriate risk appetite.

It monitors the management o undamental risks

and approves major decisions aecting the Groups

risk prole. Senior management implements policies

on risk management and internal control.

At NWL, the management team reviews the approach

to risk management in detail every year and the Audit

Committee considers the outcome. The management

team reviews the signicant risks every month and a

ull review o the model or emerging signicant risks

is carried out quarterly. Any issues that arise rom these

management team reviews are reported by the CEO

to the Board.

The system o internal control incorporates risk

management. It encompasses a number o elements

that together acilitate an eective and ecient

operation, enabling the Company to respond to a

variety o risks. These elements include:

Policies and procedures

Attached to undamental risks are a series o policies that

underpin the internal control process. Written procedures

support the policies where appropriate.

Business planning and budgeting

The business planning and budgeting process is used to

set objectives, agree action plans and allocate resources.

Progress against meeting business plan and budget

objectives is monitored regularly.

Risk register

The risk register identies key risks, each with a risk owner

who is responsible or evaluating the risk on a regular

basis. As a way o ensuring that risk management is

embedded into the business, the risk owners have the

management o these risks as a personal KPI.

Strategic risk model

Risks that are known but not yet well dened enough or

the likelihood and consequence to be reasonably

oreseen are included in a strategic risk model.

Audit Committee

The Audit Committee reports to the NWG Board on internal

controls and alerts the Board to any emerging issues.

In addition, the Audit Committee oversees internal audit,

external audit and management, as required, in its review

o internal controls.

An assurance map orms a permanent part o the process

and, or each risk, highlights who provides assurance that

the control activities are in place and operating eectively.


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There are a number o risks which we consider to relate specically to sustainability1:

Risk description Mitigation measures

Loss off supply due to failure of

strategic water main

This risk covers a catastrophic failure resulting in a major water incident that is greater than the

response capability of the water company, even with mutual aid, and for which the planning and

response required is likely to involve external agencies. In most cases, duplicate mains and diversion

of supplies would mean little or no supply consequences. Comprehensive plans exist to provide a

minimum emergency service to customers until repairs are completed: this would include the use

of mutual aid.

Sewer ooding ailures

Note: 1. T his list is not exhaustive.

Incident at Bran Sands wastewater treatmentworks causes

business interruption

Pesticides lead to prescribed

concentration or value failure

and possible enforcementaction

Undertakings have been agreed with the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) to carry out certain

actions to mitigate pesticide issues (metaldehyde and clopyralid). While specific treatment processes,

such as carbon filters and ozone are in place for at risk sites, proactive catchment is management isalso being carried out. This involves catchment protection officers working with farmers, regulators

and other stakeholders to advise on improved storage and application techniques for such pesticides.

This is a more sustainable solution than the alternative of constructing major new treatment

processes.

We have a number of contracts to treat industrial waste streams at our Bran Sands works. The

liability under each contract is capped except, in certain cases, where NWL is in willful breach. A

site-specific management regime is in place incorporating additional monitoring and duplication of

standby assets.

Health and safety prosecution Our health and safety policy and safety management system define clear arrangements andresponsibilities for implementation and management throughout the Company. This is audited as

part of our quality and environmental management system. Visible high level support for health and

safetyis provided by the Board and management team. Long term plans and targets are set to

promote continuous improvement.

The Sewer Flooding Group, comprised of stakeholders from various teams, is responsible for

managing the process, flood reporting, network capacity studies and prioritisation of investment

to reduce risk.

The sewer flow-level monitoring system continues to be expanded across the network and a new

rain radar station for the region is now operational, providing higher resolution data.

A new programme of mitigation, hydraulic modelling, along with additional sewer inspection and

cleansing will reduce incidents of sewer flooding.


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Putting customers frst

Customer service is at the heart o the Company and the

culture o getting things right rst time every time is

embedded in the business. We keep customers inormed

about our activities through leaets with bills and our

websites at www.nwl.co.uk and www.eswater.co.uk. The

sites include inormation about our services and now allow

customers to ask questions and investigate work being

carried out in their area. I customers are directly aected

by any work, we give advance warning and explain the

need or the timing o such work. We also communicatemore broadly with local communities through public

meetings and customer inormation events.

We aim to ensure that all o our customers are able to

access the inormation that they require. When customers

need to contact us, or when we need to contact them, we

cater or any special needs that they may have such as

providing bills and other publications in a variety o

ormats or the use o British Sign Language or language

interpreters. All o our employees carry identity cards, and

are happy to wait outside while their identity is checked,

to protect customers rom bogus callers. To provide extra

peace o mind customers can also register a password

with us and this will be quoted by any o our employees

on request. We also maintain a Special Needs Register or

those people or whom an interruption to the water

supply would cause particular problems. This includes

people on home dialysis or who need water due to a

medical condition or to take medicine.

Aordability

We aim to provide accurate, clear and timely bills

which encourage prompt payment. In the current

economic climate, we know that aordability continues

to be a genuine concern or many customers and wecontinue to be considerate o their circumstances,

ensuring they can choose suitable payment options

and that our recovery techniques are appropriate and

eective. However, customers who deliberately avoid

paying charges are actively pursued and we are working

closely with the Water Services Regulation Authority

(Owat) and the Department or Environment, Food and

Rural Aairs (Dera) to seek changes to legislation that

will assist the industry to identiy those responsible or

charges more easily. We are also working with credit

reerence agencies to improve the quality o our customer

inormation and enhance the eectiveness o ourcollection processes.

Customer


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Business customers

The economic situation has had a signicant impact

on some business sectors in our operating regions and we

have been working closely with major customers to

mitigate the impact where possible. Due to the

challenging economic conditions a number o large

industrial customers temporarily stopped production or

periods during the year whilst a number o other smaller

commercial customers have ceased trading altogether.

This has led to a downturn in water demand rom

industrial and commercial customers. However, thisshould be partially oset in 2012/13 largely due to SSI UK

restarting steel production on Teesside.

We are active in the business communities where we are a

member o the CBI and Chambers o Commerce and

North East o England Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC). By

supporting these and other smaller groups, NWL can help

business growth and development in the areas it serves as

well as retaining contact with organisations which

represent customers. Business customer satisaction is

also tracked on a regular basis and levels o satisaction

are high.

Leisure customers

We have urther developed our leisure inrastructure, by

improving the quality o car parks, ootpaths and toilet

acilities. This has improved customer satisaction scores

and increased visitor numbers to our strategic sites. The

development o new added value services at Kielder has

enabled us to maintain our position within the market

place and achieve our predicted growth targets. We

continue to work in partnership with the local community

and regional and national organisations to ensure that our

sites support the use o recreational activities to increase

the awareness o the environment, promote healthy livingand improve education.

Working in partnership

We always aim to exceed the expectations o our

customers by taking personal responsibility or delivering

and communicating a good service and keeping

promises, we work in partnership with our major business

customers and, we understand the importance o

reliability and security o our service. KielderMarathon,LakesideWay


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Research and development

We invest in a programme o research and development

to ensure we can meet the needs o our customers and to

support the sustainable and cost eective operation o

our business, now and into the uture. Our research and

innovation activities include the development o technical

solutions or water and waste water management,

collaborative research within the sector and partnerships

with suppliers, universities and research organisations.

This has supported the invention, development, trial and/

or implementation o: advanced automatic control systems or water and

waste water treatment process;

devices and systems or reducing ooding and pollution

rom our sewers;

microbial uel cells and electrochemical cells,

which, respectively, generate electricity or

hydrogen rom waste water;

novel instruments or monitoring the quality

o waste water efuent;

benecial re-use or water

treatment sludge;

low power de-watering and thickening o water

treatment sludge using reed beds;

internal inspection o water distribution pipes

while in service;

lining systems or extending the lie expectancy

o water distribution pipes;

novel processes or drinking water production

and waste water treatment;

regeneration o browneld land using water

treatment by-products;

novel cleaning techniques or water mains to reduce

occurrences o discoloured water.

During the year, the Company invested 1.1 million(2011: 2.3 million) in research and development, reecting

the stages o the projects above.

Procurement

NWL depends on thousands o suppliers or the provision

o works, goods and services to maintain the high level o

rontline services that our customers expect. The Company

spends millions o pounds with our suppliers every year

through various long term ramework agreements and call

o contracts, through to the direct placing o purchase

orders with suppliers and the use o purchasing cards or

low-level transactional uses. Our procurement action plancontinues to ocus on building eective partnerships with

our supply chain to identiy improvement opportunities

and develop innovative solutions which benet all parties

as well as society and the customers we serve. It is our

policy to acilitate continuous improvement in the

Competitiveness


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environmental and social perormance o our supply

chain. Key elements o the plan include:

ensuring that all business partners are treated with

airness and transparency;

ocusing on areas where we have a high impact

on society or the environment, areas o high spend

and products that involve a large amount o

capital expenditure;

reviewing the works, goods and services we procure to

ensure that they reect a real need and that

specications include social and environmental criteriaearly in the process;

assessing our suppliers on the basis o social and

environmental criteria, in addition to the nancial ones;

ensuring that all new suppliers are reviewed on their

nancial, health and saety, environmental and

insurance records and perormance;

seeking to lead and support the local and economic

development o the communities we serve and, to this

end, we use local suppliers where possible;

communicating our approach to our suppliers

and engage with them on how improvement can

be achieved, working in partnership where appropriate;

and

undertake an annual review.

It is essential that our supply chain partners both

understand our approach to creating a more sustainable

uture and ully support our sustainable procurement

agenda. It is our intention to continue to work with our

suppliers, thereby making a dierence together, by

understanding what their sustainable business practices

are, how we can learn rom each other and how we can

work together to strengthen their perormance and share

best practice.

As a result o our proactive supply chain engagement

NWL continues to top the British Water annual

perormance survey league table o the major 12 UK

water service providers. British Water is the trade

association or the water industry supply chain and their

annual survey is based on the views o the water industry

supply chain on water industry perormance including

contractual approach, impact on the supply chain,

proessional qualities, attitude, working with partners and

contractors, communication and procurement. NWL was

once again the top perormer with an overall average

score o 7.5 in the table (a decrease o 0.2 on 2011) withthe next closest score being 7.3 (the average score being

6.6 and the worst 5.5). This survey enables us to

benchmark our procurement perormance in relation to

the industry average and against other water companies.

Hannin

gfieldreedbeds


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Code o conduct

NWL adheres to a Our Code o Conduct, the overriding

principle o which is or NWL to operate in line with its

values and to act ethically, lawully and with integrity,

honestyand airness in its relationships. These policies

aretailored to specic business objectives and operating

environments. NWL encourages open eedback and

is committed to protecting employees who wish to

voice concerns about behaviour or decisions that they

believe to be illegal or unethical. The Audit Committeeregularly reviews the disclosure (whistleblowing) policy.

People strategy and policy

Our approach to strategy development ocuses on

achieving the medium term goals and specic business

objectives in all parts o the Company. Our policies aim to

nurture a mindset where our people will consistently

choose to go the extra mile in delivering great service to

customers every day. People are clear about our vision

and values and the Code o Conduct sets out our

approach to doing business. Our CEO has responsibility

at Board level or the People strategy and policy.

We aim to recruit and retain the best people, with a

diverse range o skills, experience and backgrounds,

who are committed to our vision and values. In return,

we aim to provide opportunities or people to develop

their skills and capabilities and ullling and challenging

work in a supportive culture which recognises,

celebrates and rewards the contribution made by both

teams and individuals.

Our target is to achieve and sustain an Employee

Satisaction Index (ESI) o 81%. This is a key measure in our

annual employee survey which helps us to understand

how people eel about working or the Company.Although we missed the target in 2011/12, we did achieve

our highest ever annual score o 78% and are condent

that we will achieve this medium term goal by 2015.

Target

2011/12

Perormance

2011/12

Engagement and

satisaction index (%)

81 78

Employee

turnover 16 14.56

Note: 1. No target set, UK average provided or inormation.

People


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Valuing diversity

We understand that having a diverse workorce enhances

our perormance, ostering innovation and creativity and

helping us better understand how to serve the needs o

our customers. Our equal opportunity policy seeks to

ensure that all our current employees and potential

employees are treated with respect.

We welcome job applications rom all parts o the

community. It is our intention that all job applicants and

employees are treated equally, regardless o their age,ability, marital or partnership status, race, religion or

belie, sex or sexual orientation. We monitor our

workorce prole against census and sector data and aim

to be recognised as an employer o choice within the

diverse communities we serve, ensuring we take ull

advantage o the wide range o backgrounds and abilities

o current and potential employees.

Engaging leadership and management

We ully recognise the importance o an inclusive and

engaging leadership and management style. In 2011 we

continued to build on our award-winning approach by

engaging with our people through over 120 departmental

workshops acilitated by senior managers and over 50

participative roadshows acilitated by our CEO and

directors. The roadshows were ocused on our vision and

values and enabled people to celebrate their successes

and discuss possible improvements to ecient working

practices, customer service, the environment and our

uture strategy. Our bi-annual leadership events ocus on

engaging our most senior managers in the continuous

development o plans to achieve our vision to be the

national leader. Throughout the year we share key

inormation through TeamTalk, the CEOs bi-monthly

brieng which is cascaded through the business, with awide range o newsletters and briengs also keeping

people inormed o more local news.

Our constructive employee relations have been urther

enhanced through collaborative working, establishing a

change management ramework which was developed

jointly with our trade union representatives, describing

how we involve and engage people aected by change.

This has enabled early involvement o trade union and

employee representatives in shaping proposals and

communication plans, even where ormal collective

consultation is not a requirement. Our approach tocommunicating change is continually improving and,

during the year, a number o change projects were

smoothly implemented, using a supportive approach to

alleviate the impact on individuals.

Committed team o people

Actively involving and engaging our people is a

undamental building block to delivering strong results

and improving our perormance. Every year we seek their

views through an annual employee engagement survey.

This years survey had the largest response rate ever, with

78% o people taking part. The survey covered working

lie, training, communications, managers and the

Company. All employees were invited to workshops

where the results were shared and invited to jointly

identiy areas or improvement. The eedback rom eachteam contributed to the development o departmental

action plans.

Overall, 83% o respondents told us they are proud to

work or the Company, 85% would recommend working

or the Company and 80% believe that NWL is a great

organisation to work or. This commitment is borne out by

low employee turnover which, at 4.56% last year, was well

below the UK average o 16% (CIPD 2011).

To recognise the contribution o our people, who bring

our values to lie every day in the way they do their jobs,

we have launched our Vision and Values awards, known as

the ViVa Awards. In the rst year over 240 people and

teams have been nominated by colleagues in the business

to celebrate great ViVa perormance against one or more

o our ve Values.

Supporting wellbeing

It is clear to us that when people are eeling at their best

they will give o their best to customers and colleagues. In

2011, we signed up to the Public Health Responsibility

Deal and have urther evolved our Wellbeing strategy

to promote all aspects o working well and the continuous

development of a healthy, engaged and resilient workforce.As a partner of the Public Health Responsibility Deal we are

committed to further improving health in the workplace by

supporting our people to make informed, balanced choices

and helping them to lead healthier lives. The impact of our

approach will continue to be felt beyond the workplace and

will provide a broader social benefit to our local communities.

We actively encourage our people to take care o their

health and wellbeing by providing a wide range o health

services, support and resources. The Groups medical

advisor provides comprehensive occupational health

services, general health promotion and stress support.


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16

We continue to promote healthy eating, hydration and

exercise alongside excellent health screening and medical

insurance schemes and discourage smoking in our

workorce. Around 2,200 employees have been involved

in our health screening and tness standards programmes,

both o which include liestyle advice elements.

Where employees develop a disability which aects their

work we support them to remain in employment,

wherever practicable, by providing appropriate

adjustments to their roles and/or eective redeployment.

Occupational health physicians assist this process byproviding proessional medical advice to both employees

and line managers to help achieve a positive outcome.

Our current level o sickness absence is 3.0%, continuing

on a downward trend rom 3.2% in 2010 and 3.1% in 2011.

Encouraging personal growth

Our aim is to build and maintain a culture that values,

encourages and recognises outstanding perormance,

where we share a commitment to our objectives and to

delivering our personal best. From corporate induction

days and induction planning, to individual coaching,

accreditation o skills through national vocational

qualications, and management and leadership

programmes, we provide the resources needed to

help employees reach their ull potential.

Annual appraisals are given high priority, along with the

identication o training needs, recognising how

important technical and personal skills are in seekingto achieve the Companys vision and values. We have

introduced a 360 eedback process or all our senior

managers, which is the ocus o a developmental

discussion about living and role modelling our values

as part o the annual appraisal.

We continue to implement our Management

Development Framework which is structured to cover

the training needs o those who show the potential or

management right through to development at director

level. As part o this ramework, we are working in

partnership with Newcastle Business School to provide

qualications, rom a Diploma to a Masters degree, in

leadership and management. In 2011, we introduced our

LEADer programme, the next step in our Management

Development Framework, supporting our operational

departments. To date, around 150 people have taken

part in the LEADer programme, which is aimed at

supervisors, team leaders and works managers. It includes

assessment to National Qualication Framework (NQF)

Levels 2, 3 and 5 management standards, supported by

ormal development and coaching.

People continued

Our people have access to specialist advice and treatment

to support recovery rom musculoskeletal disorders (MSD).

Since 2008 we have reduced sickness absence due to MSD

by 22% with on average 600 employees each year

accessing this service. In 2010, we introduced NWL

Support, which gives our people access to face to face,

telephone or online counselling on a range o personal

concerns, as well as providing a telephone based case

managementservice for employees with stress related or

mental health conditions.


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17

Currently, 75% o our line managers are qualied to at

least NQF Level 3. Overall, around 2,600 o our people,

90% o the workorce, are qualied to at least NQF

Level 2 the equivalent o ve GCSEs at grades A to C.

Our commitment to skills is delivered through a series

o NVQ programmes, working in partnership with

leading providers.

Growing new talent is key to our continued success and,

last year, our people were participating in our graduate

development programme, with 18 in our apprenticeprogramme, and plans are being ormulated to increase

our development programmes or 2012.

To recognise the academic achievements o people at

all levels in the Company we held the sixth annual skills

awards. Celebrating everything rom apprenticeships to

Masters Degrees, guest speaker Kriss Akabusi ensured a

motivational and memorable evening or all our

successul students.

We aim or our terms and conditions to both attract and

retain the best people in the areas we serve. In addition

to competitive pay and benets we also oer a scheme

providing a wide range o liestyle benets through salary

sacrice, such as childcare vouchers, water services, cars

or personal use and discounted store vouchers. Around

80% o our people chose to take advantage o the scheme

during the year, up rom 73% last year.

Communication

We use a wide range o communication methods

including magazines, brochures, leaets, newsletters,

intranet, notice boards and regular team meetings. We

issue all employees with a series o inormation booklets

clearly explaining areas such as the Companys vision andvalues, terms, conditions and benets o employment,

and occupational health and wellbeing programmes.

Disclosure (Whistleblowing)

We encourage open eedback and are committed to

protecting employees who wish to voice concerns about

behaviour or decisions that they believe to be illegal or

unethical. The Audit Committee regularly reviews the

disclosure policy. There were no concerns raised by the

Audit Committee during the year.

Health and saety

We place great emphasis on health and saety and a sae

working environment. Employees are actively encouragedto be involved in identiying and eliminating hazards in

the workplace. This has resulted in a signicant reduction

in accidents over recent years and, this year, there were

only eight lost time reportable accidents, which continues

the improving trend.

We have established a medium term plan or taking

health and saety orward in the Company to 2015. We

aim to urther reduce the number o accidents by 10%

each year and to maintain and improve the saety culture

in the Company.

Saety inormation, communication and awareness

are critical to creating a positive saety culture. In 2010,

we reviewed the consultation process and, this year,

introduced a new health and saety committee structure

and a new Company health and saety orum chaired by

our CEO. We are already seeing the benets rom

involving the saety representatives in reviewing and

consulting on saety policies and procedures and in

championing the importance o health and saety in

the workplace.

Target

2011/12

Perormance

2011/12

Lost time reportable

accidents (number)

11

8

Sickness absence (%) 2.85 3.0

Employee Share Incentive Plan

Prior to the change o control, NWG operated a Share

Incentive Plan (the Plan) that provided one ree matching

share or every three shares purchased by an employee.

The Plan closed in October 2011 ollowing the change o

control o NWG.


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18

Our external environment

The largest o NWGs businesses, NWL, operates in the

north east and south east o England. The two areas

have very dierent economic, demographic and water

resource characteristics.

In north east, there has been a gradual all in overall

water demand in recent decades as a consequence o a

reduction in industrial demand or water and this trend

is expected to continue. The north east compares well

to the rest o the country as ar as water resources areconcerned and our major regional rivers can all be

supported by Kielder Water. This provides very high

security o supply or our customers. We also provide

the highest levels o compliance or waste water across

this area ensuring that we can return the water and

sewage sludge to the environment satisactorily whilst

meeting the demands o all customers. Bran Sands is

particularly important in this respect as it supports the

heavily industrialised area within Teesside by treating its

waste. The advanced anaerobic digestion (AAD) plant

there is now operating eectively and helping us to build

our use o renewable energy. A second AAD plant at

Howdon in Tyneside will come into operation during 2012.

Our southern operating area is a water scarce region

that is orecast to experience urther economic and

population growth in the medium term. This area has

also seen a reduction in demand rom heavy industry,

but there has been an increase in population with urther

increases orecast. Supplies are currently not secure in a

severe drought but the project to increase the capacity

o Abberton Reservoir, near Colchester, coupled with

ongoing demand management measures, will secure

supplies to the Essex area or the oreseeable uture.

The Abberton Scheme will be complete in 2013 and theadditional capacity available or supply the ollowing year.

NWL currently supplies over 1,150 megalitres o drinking

quality water each day. This water is drawn rom reservoirs,

where it is collected and stored, rivers and groundwater

sources. It is treated at our works beore it is delivered by

a network o pipes to homes and businesses.

Environment


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19

Water quality

The quality o water is critical to our customers and

samples are taken on a daily basis or analysis under

regulations monitored by the Drinking Water Inspectorate

(DWI). The quality in all areasserved remained high.

North (N)

South (S)

Target

2010/11

Perormance

2010/11

DWI Mean ZonalCompliance (%)

N 99.36 99.92S 99.77 99.97

DWI OperationalPerormance Index (%)

N 99.80 99.88S 99.98 99.93

Distribution MaintenanceIndex (%)

N 99.70 99.82S 99.90 99.87

Overall, a sustained level o compliance has been

achieved with ewer ailures at customer taps and a

reduction in the number o health-related ailures

at water treatment works and service reservoirs. Asset

integrity continues to be a major ocus, with enhanced

maintenance and inspection programmes at service

reservoirs retained to support internal medium term

targets o perormance and so minimisemicrobiological risk.

Signicant improvements have been seen in iron and

manganese compliance in 2011. In addition, there has

been a urther reduction in customer contacts relating to

discoloured water. This has been helped by the cleaning

o 150km o large diameter water mains in Tyneside and

South East Northumberland, which was completed in

June 2011. A similar three year programme o work was

started in 2012, this time targeting larger mains in

Gateshead and Newcastle as part o an ongoing strategy

to improve the acceptability o water to consumers.

Water resources

We continue to make excellent progress with the

Abberton Scheme. This increases the capacity o

Abberton Reservoir by 58% and also includes the

construction o two pipelines and a pumping station, all

o which remain on programme. The Denver and

Blackdyke licences have also now been varied, which

increases the availability o water or transer, should it be

required, during November and December. Once this

scheme is operating, in 2014, we do not expect to have to

develop urther major resources in Essex or the next

25 years.

In addition to improving the supply o water, we believe

it is important to manage the demand or water so that

it does not exceed levels that can be supplied in a

sustainable way. Metering has an important role to play

in this regard. For several years we have been installing

water meters upon change o occupier in properties in

Essex. This is in addition to the optional metering scheme

available to all customers. Around 50% o domestic

households in Essex and 61% in Suolk are now metered.

In the north east, where supplies are more plentiul, 26%

o households are metered.

Water eciency targets were introduced in 2010/11 to

reduce consumption o water by the Companyscustomers by one litre per property per day. These

targets apply in all areas served and the award-winning

work previously carried out in Essex and Suolk was

extended to the rest o the Company. New initiatives

have been developed, including an innovative theatre

production called Little Green Riding Hood, with Fame

Factory Spotlight, which has delivered water eciency

messages to over 72,000 school children since it was

launched in 2010. We have consistently met our water

eciency targets year on year.

The reporting year was very dry in Essex and Suolk,

where only 83% o the long term average rainall was

recorded. However, through careul abstraction

management, we were on track to ll our reservoirs to

target levels by the end o April and have avoided the

need to impose a Temporary Use Ban (previously known

as a hosepipe ban). In the north east, or the majority o

the year, our storage position was at or above average.

The annual rainall total was 88% o the long term

average. In spite o a dry autumn and very dry early

winter, our impounding reservoirs held up well with

overall storage at the end o the reporting period only

some 10% below average and there were no issues with

our ability to meet demand. There are no plans orrestrictions during 2012/13, although the Company will

continue to encourage customers to use water wisely and

control demand in dry periods.

By March 2011, we had recovered rom the previous years

extremely severe winter which caused our northern

operating area to miss its annual leakage target. Changes

had already been made to the leakage operations

management and the underlying structure in February,

which we demonstrated at the 2011 regulatory June

Return. NWL agreed to send Owat regular updates o

progress against the target and, throughout the year, wehave provided reports summarising leakage management

perormance in our northern operating area, along with

orecasts o the expected position at the end oMarch

2012.


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20

Throughout 2011/12, distribution input and leakage levels

have been at their lowest ever. The winter season began

with a signicantly dierent prole rom that o 2010/11,

and continued well below the typical average year. The

cold period expected towards the end o January 2012

did not ully materialise. Our reaction to any increase in

leakage was quick, thorough and ecient, to ensure that

we achieved the 2011/12 leakage target regardless o the

weather. Our nal reported leakage gure has met our

target comortably.

Waste water

Our exceptional perormance or sewage treatment works

continued or a ourth year. All numerically consented

works remained compliant or the year on the basis o

routine Operator Sel Monitoring (OSM) samples. One

works, Bowburn, was non-compliant based on an

additional sample taken ollowing the sel reporting o a

process issue to the Environment Agency (EA).

Industrial treatment streams at Bran Sands have

perormed exceptionally well, in line with the sewage

treatment perormance and with reduced energy

requirements through optimising liquid waste streams

and processes such as the anaerobic digesters treating

Lotte UKs waste.

Target

2011/12

Perormance

2011/12

Sewage treatment works

compliance - numeric

consents) (%)

100 99.4

Sewage treatment works

compliance

-Look up Tables (%)

100 100

Bathing waters mandatory

standard (%)

100 100

Pollution incidents (category

1,2 and 3)

88 95

The advanced anaerobic digestion plant at Bran Sands

has perormed well over the last 12 months. The Waste

Water team successully planned and executed some

major statutory inspections on the AAD plant, which not

only aected AAD throughput but impacted on the rest

o the regions sludge management. This was carried out

in record time, minimising downtime and maximisingenergy production. Further enhancements to the site are

planned in 2012/13 to increase energy production again.

Construction o the Howdon plant, on Tyneside, to

process the remainder o NWLs sludge, has gone well and

should be ready to start recommisioning in June 2012. The

number o properties experiencing internal ooding due

to hydraulic overloading reduced signicantly or the

second year in 2011/12. This can be attributed to a

combination o less requent and intense summer storms

in 2011 and the cumulative eect o our sewer ooding

investment programme. Enhanced resolution rain radar

has now been in place in the north east since 2009,

allowing us to identiy severe weather across the region.

During 2011/12, we invested over 22million in

conventional sewer ood relie projects, resulting in the

removal o224 properties rom our ooding registers.

Planning to identiy schemes or coming years orms a key

part o our investment programme and is well advanced,

with a urther 137 properties to be addressed in 2012/13.

Additionally, in line with our serviceability action plan

or sewer ooding, we have embarked on a programme

o increased mitigation. This covers not only properties

where a scheme is not cost benecial, but also properties

where a solution may not be implemented quickly. In

2011/12, we have invested 621,000 in our programme o

mitigation measures to 268 properties that have

previously been ooded rom overloaded sewers. These

measures include installation o non-return valves, ood

doors, smart air brick covers, and re-proling o land.

Whilst not providing an immediate engineering solution

we have reduced ood risk to these properties and

provided some reassurance to our customers.

The number o properties ooded due to other causes

has increased in 2011/12. A serviceability action plan has

been put in place to reduce ooding due to other causes.

This includes new and additional programmes o sewercleansing, sewer inspection, and sewer rehabilitation.

These programmes orm part o our long term policy to

prevent unmanaged escapes rom the sewer network.

The total number o pollution incidents showed a slight

reduction rom 2010, however, there was a signicant

increase in those classied as serious (categories 1 and 2).

While there was no single cause or these serious events,

the programme o installing overow and sewer level

monitoring (Hawkeye) is continuing. Furthermore, the

monitoring has been brought in-house or quicker

detection and a rapid response to warning level alarms, tosolve problems beore any overow occurs.

Environment continued


23/32

21

All o the 34 bathing waters in the north east passed the

required mandatory standard and 31 met the more

demanding guideline standard.

Carbon management

The water industry is one o the largest users o energy

in the UK and we aim to play a ull part in support o

Governments plans to reduce emissions. We have been

working hard over recent years to reduce our carbon

ootprint while preparing ourselves or the uture

challenges o a change in climate and the weatherevents we may ace as a consequence.

We have published our carbon management plan to

meet its target o a 35% reduction in operational

emissions by 2020, rom a 2008 base.

The carbon management plan includes energy eciency,

renewable energy generation, transport and water

eciency and supports our activities to help us adapt to

a changing climate. It represents a sustainable and

responsible way orward or the business, our customers

and the environment. The projects which will help us to

achieve our carbon reduction target are outlined

our 33.0 million investment in thermal hydrolysis

advanced anaerobic digestion at Bran Sands, which

provides 50% (circa 4.7 megawatts) o the energy

requirements o the site. This enables waste water

sludge to generate methane to uel gas engines and

produce green electricity. A similar plant will be

constructed at Howdon, and this will come on line in

the next ew months. Together these plants will help

meet our target o generating 20% o our energy

needs rom renewable energy, as well as reduce our

overall energy demand;

hydroelectric installations at ve reservoirs includingthe UKs largest man-made reservoir, Kielder Water.

Recently commissioned plants at our Selset Reservoir

and Mosswood WaterTreatment Works will together

generate up to 900 kilowatts o electricity - 5,400

megawatt hours a year. Renewable energy is also

being generated with hydroelectric plants atLartington and Wear ValleyWaterTreatment Works

and Derwent Reservoir and we are planning to

develop urther opportunities at other reservoir sites;

we have extended and improved our metering o

electricity so that we have a clearer understanding

o our energy use and can improve our energyeciency through site energy management plans;

Mosswoodhydroelectric

plantcommissioning


24/32

22

limiting tertiary ultra violet disinection outside the

bathing water season at ve major works reduces

energy consumption and carbon emissions with no

detrimental eect on the marine environment; and

encouraging customers, through our using water

wisely campaign, Bad habits cost the earth to

recognise that wasting water is closely linked to

wasting energy (inormation and tools are available or

customers on our websites).

Through these projects, and by reviewing the eciency oour pumps across the business, we have progressively

reduced the amount o energy used over recent years

despite upward pressures as a consequence o tighter

environmental standards.

We have been awarded or the second time, the Carbon

Trust Standard or our eorts in reducing greenhouse gas

emissions. The standard provides an objective benchmark

against which our commitment and success in addressing

our climate change impact was assessed and is signicant

as it demonstrates progress against our ambitious carbon

management plan.

Climate change

The water cycle and the changing weather have a

direct inuence on the provision o water and waste

water services. Our employees are experienced in

managing the eects o too much or too little rainall,

but changing weather patterns will present a growing

challenge or the business.

In past years, we have carried out research into the likely

impact o climate change on all our assets and water

resources and this has been incorporated in our climate

change policy as part o our corporate responsibility work.This work is continuing, based on the latest UKCP09

projections published in 2009 by the UK Climate Impacts

Programme.

Last year, we incorporated this work into our response to

the new adaptation reporting power granted to the

Government by the 2008 Climate Change Act, assessing

the risk that climate change presents to our business. This

work has highlighted that increasing rainall intensity is

the most signicant short term threat that we will ace as

a result o the changing climate. This represents a serious

challenge i we are to manage successully the higherlevel o risk o sewer ooding that will result. We have

already begun to take actions that will better prepare us

or this challenge, including investment in weather radar,

Environment continued

Abbertonreservoir


25/32

23

remote monitoring o the sewer network and joint

working with other drainage agencies. These will all

contribute to our better understanding and management

o the threat.

More positively, we have ound that the anticipated drier

summers o the uture are less o a concern or NWL than

or many other companies in our industry. The ongoing

investment to increase the capacity o Abberton Reservoir

plays a big part in this or our Essex operating area. Work

is now under way on this project that has been indevelopment or over 15 years, a reection o the long

lead times or such environmentally sensitive schemes.

The presence o Kielder Water helps protect the north

east region to an even greater extent. Despite this, we

anticipate that we will need to monitor and ormally

update our understanding o the threat rom the

changing weather at regular intervals.

Waste and recycling

NWL is conscious o the need to preserve resources,

minimise waste and to reduce our impact on

the environment.

NWL aims to minimise the amount o waste generated

by its activities and to dispose o residual waste in a

responsible manner. We recognise that our key wastes

come rom three main streams; investment delivery

projects, day to day operations and our oces. These

wastes include spoil rom road works, water and waste

water sludge and electrical and oce wastes. We aim to

reduce, reuse, recycle, recover energy rom or dispose o

these wastes in a responsible manner with the prime

ocus being to reduce the amount o disposed waste.

NWL has developed some innovative solutions to treat

and dispose o waste as evidenced by our rst industrialscale use o sewage treatment sludge to generate energy

through advanced anaerobic digestion and also our

world rst project o its scale using reed beds or water

treatment sludge proving that reed beds can be

successully used to treat raw water sludge rather than

rely on energy intensive engineering solutions.

Biodiversity and conservation

NWLs aim is to conserve and enhance our natural

environment where appropriate, working to avoid,

or minimise, adverse impacts through good land

management and operational practice. We recognisethat our management o water and associated

Waxcaps

landholdings provides an opportunity or the wildlie

and habits that occur, or could potentially occur, within

these areas to ourish.

We ormally consider conservation issues during the

planning and construction phases o all our projects

with minimal environmental impact and investigate

opportunities or biodiversity conservation and

enhancement in all areas o our work. We have a duty to

take account o environmental issues in the early stages

o the planning process and have processes in place toensure this occurs.

We understand the importance o designated

conservation sites and our obligation to our landholdings

designated as Sites o Special Scientic Interest (SSSIs)

and we actively manage our SSSI landholdings towards

meeting national avourable conditions status targets.

In addition we have a responsibility to put into practice

protected species management to protect and to ensure

the survival o protected species that occur within

our landholdings.

Quality

We have maintained our certication to the international

standards or quality (ISO 9001:2008), environment (ISO

14001:2004) and occupational health and saety (OHSAS

18001:2007) across all areas o the business, including

operational sites and oce based teams.


26/32

24

We support the communities we serve in a number o

dierent ways. We have been widely recognised as

leaders in our support or projects that make the areas

we serve better places in which to live, work or invest. This

year, the Company has been re-accredited by FTSE4Good

though, ollowing our delisting in the autumn, we will not

be eligible or this index in uture years. We have also

received re-accreditation as a Platinum Plus company

by Business in the Community. The Queens Award or

Industry is still in place as it was awarded in 2009 or a ve

year period. For the second year running, the Companywas also recognised by Ethisphere, an American-based

international think-tank, as one o the most ethical

companies in the world and was one o only seven UK

only based companies and the only water utility

worldwide to make the list o 145 companies.

The support we give to our communities ocuses on

ve broad areas.

Investment in our communities

This year the Group made charitable donations totalling

155,000. In addition, and in line with previous years, we

have contributed resources with a value equivalent to

at least 1% o our annual pre-tax prots (through cash,

employee time and expertise, or use o our acilities) to

projects which benet the communities we serve. Our

employees undraised 43,667 or charities this year.

The Care or saety scheme, which encourages

employees to reduce accidents and associated lost time,

has triggered payments over 28,190 or our charities

nominated by employees. (Craword House, Great North

East Air Ambulance, Little Havens Childrens Hospice,

Open Door and the Princes Trust Million Makers). Since it

began in 2004, over 354,470 has been raised or charity.

Community Foundations covering our areas o supply

hold endowment unds totalling nearly 1 million

contributed by NWL over the last 20 years. These are long

term investments with the income rom the unds used

to support community and environmental initiatives.

Community groups are chosen by committees o our

own employees (34 recipients this year).

In addition to cash donations, NWL seeks to support many

projects through in-kind giving and support. Through

Good Moves we aim to put NWL estates into productivecommunity use. Working in partnership with artist s

groups CoExist and Metal, we have developed a

temporary art project at our empty Southend complex

to provide space or a temporary gallery, studio and small

creative business complex.

Communities


27/32

25

We have ocused on developing aordable rural housing

to contribute to the sustainability and vitality o those

communities, including support o the Prince o Wales

Aordable Rural Housing Initiative since it was launched

in 2003. As part o this commitment we are working with

Hastoe Housing on a project or 12 houses on land close

to Hanningeld WaterTreatment Works in Essex and these

are due or completion in 2011.

This is the rst ull operating year or the newly ormed

Kielder Water & Forest Park Development Trust (KW&FPDT,a registered charity which ormalised the original Kielder

Partnership ounded in 1994. This year, activity has

ocused on rening the vision, mission and goals o the

Trust as well as ensuring the appropriate governance and

nancial systems are in place, but this has not stopped

the continued delivery o the 25 year investment plan

or the area.

A 10million development scheme or the Calvert Trust

Kielder site has gained planning permission which will

increase the activity provision and accommodation within

the Park.

Encouraging and enabling sustainable development has

been a high priority and the development o the local

business orum has been a key acet. Kielder petrol station

was re-opened ater a our year battle to secure unding

and we have helped the Kielder Observatory secure

unding leading to a signicant uplit in observing

sessions and visitors. A great deal o work was undertaken

on progressing towards, and application or, Dark Skies

Park Status which is an independent international award

or the quality o the dark skies at Kielder and the delivery

o excellent programmes or the public to explore and

learn about the starscape. Events and activities have alsogrown with the successul delivery o the second Kielder

marathon, dubbed Britains Most Beautiul, and the

Kielder 100 the 100 mile mountain bike race using the

new trails across Kielder Forest.

Participation in our communities

As part o NWLs in-kind giving, we encourage employees

to volunteer their time, skills and expertise through our

Just an hour volunteering scheme. We support our

people to actively participate in their local communities

by giving them work time to volunteer in projects o

their choice.

During the year our people have helped hundreds o

community projects, to undertake tasks as varied aspainting, giving blood, litter picking, transorming

gardens, ironing or a hospice, teaching scuba diving to

disadvantaged young people, teaching children to read,cleaning out streams, laying paving and much more.

In the last year, we have carried out 740 dierent Just anhour projects and employees have volunteered 15,204

hours in their communities. In 2011/12, 48% o our

employees participated in the Just an hour volunteeringscheme (up rom 27% in the previous year) and 1,417

dierent organisations were given nancial andin-kind support.

We have continued our support or Castle View Enterprise

Academy, in Sunderland, or which NWL is lead sponsor.The school has now completed its second year o

operations ater opening its doors in 2009. The school was

built to replace a ailing school in a deprived localcommunity, largely o third generation unemployed

amilies, to provide their young people with a caring andsupportive learning environment, relevant qualications,

opportunity and hope.

Two academic years on, our ambition to create a centre o

excellence with a clear ocus on raising standards o

academic perormance to enable every student to achieve

their personal best in all areas o academy lie within a

sae, secure and stable environment, is coming to ruition.

The pass rate or students in GCSEs including English and

including Mathand English

A*-C

Old

School

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

A*-C

Overall (%)

26% 43% 54% 67%

63% 86% 94% 97%

Academy Academy Academy

Maths has improved considerably:

Old

school


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26

Educating our communities about

their environment

Key partnerships have been developed by NWL to help

the conservation o biodiversity on our sites, to acilitate

public access and to develop conservation education. Our

contribution includes unding project ocers and

providing expertise to the organisations. Our current

partnerships include:

Northumberland Wildlie Trust (Kielder and Bakethin);

Durham Wildlie Trust;

Essex Wildlie Trust (Hanningeld);

Broads Authority (Lound and Trinity Broads); and

Davy Down Trust (North Stiord, Essex).

A wide range o targeted educational materials are

available on our websites or children and teachers.

We promote the use o these materials and celebrate

innovative approaches to environment and health

education via our support o the Northumbrian Water

Schools Awards in the north east and Cash or

Schools Awards in Essex.

We also lead on specic environmental education

initiatives such as the innovative Northumbrian WaterGLOBE project. This year the project, in collaboration with

The Climate Change Schools Project, ClimateNE, EA and

GLOBE UK, is supporting ve schools to take control o

capturing and analysing local weather data, patterns

and extreme events (using weather stations and training

provided by NWL). Ultimately, children involved will

become community scientists to drive behavioural

change at local levels.

Supporting healthy communities

NWL continues to promote the health benets o drinking

tap water and our 'water for health' campaign aims to

encourage people to lead a healthy liestyle. To date, over

376,000 has been provided to und ree bottle free

watercoolers in schools and around 800 have been

supplied in nearly 465 schools and community groups.

We also continue to promote bottle-ree water coolersas a sustainable alternative to bottle-ed coolers. Similarly,we use our tap into initiative to donate bottled tap waterto community sporting events in order to promote the

importance o rehydration during exercise. This year we

Working with a wide and diverse range o sporting

partners is a natural extension o our water or health

campaign and we work with them to support grassroots

sporting activities to get people active as well as

educating them on healthy eating and good hydration.

Through our partnerships we have reached over

104,000 children and adults. We provide:

links and networks to enable sporting partners

to get together to share ideas and resources;

nancial support o approximately 65,000 each year

which, then levered over 140,000 rom other sources; advice and marketing support on programme

development;

bottled tap water, sports bottles, water jugs or

bottle-ree coolers to reinorce the importance o

drinking tap water to rehydrate during sporting

activities; and

help with undraising and raising the prole o the

partnerships to attract additional investment.

We have linked our Good moves initiative and our

Water or health campaign to develop Healthworks.

This is a unique project utilising one o our redundant

buildings to help tackle the poor long term health o

the residents in Easington, County Durham, by granting

a 99 year lease to County Durham Primary Care Trust and

working in partnership to develop services or the local

community in an area where census records show one

o the worst health records in the country.

We are represented on the steering group or Healthworks

and provide research, marketing and communications

support. We believe this is the only project o its kind in

the country and shows how much can be achieved by

working in partnership. The centre has received almost

27,500 visits during the year and now provides over 58health and community support services including a GP

led walk-in health centre open 8:00am to 8:00pm 365 days

a year. It acts as a community ocal point where service

providers and community groups can come together to

address issues that aect the quality o lie in their local

community. In January 2012, we also organized and

supported the rst Healthworks recognition awards to

honour those who have taken steps to improve their

health and wellbeing or give up their time to volunteer at

the centre.

Communitiescontinued

donated 143,200 bottles of tap water to events.


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27

LeeEdwardsvisitsWaterA

idprojectinZambia

Supporting developing communitiesthrough WaterAid

We continued to raise unds and awareness or the work

o WaterAid which brings sustainable water and sanitation

solutions, as well as hygiene education, to the poorest

parts o Arica and Asia, as it has since the charity was

ormed by the water industry in 1981.

The employee undraising committee has raised

more than 5million, since 1997, with the help o the

Company and last year ocused its undraising support on

specic projects in Ghana and Tanzania. We support our

employees to become ambassadors or the charity and

encourageannual supporter trips to see WaterAid projects.

This year,Technical Support Team Leader Lee Edwards

visited Zambia and saw rst hand how our adopted

international charity saves lives.


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Customer satisfaction

with overall service

%

88 88 89

90 90 91

06/07 08/09 09/10 10/11 10/11 12/13Target

Overall service

90

91

11/12

89

90

07/08

91

Customer satisfactionwith value for money

%

84 83 85

85 85 87

06/07 08/09 09/10 09/10 11/12

87

12/13Target

Value formoney

83

85

07/08

85

87

10/11

Investment into researchand development by NWL

m

1.8

2.3

07/0 8 0 8/09 11/12

1.8

10/1109/10

2.1

1.1

Invoice payment performance days

1816

21

3030 30 30 30

07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12Target

Creditordays ratio

19

15

28


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Employees who are proudto work for the company

%

83

2007 2008 2009 2010 20152011

Employeesurveyresponse

8181

Target

75 7780 80

81838382

Reduction in sickness absence

due to musculoskeletal disorders

since the introduction of

Rehabworks in 2008

%

9

22

39

08/09 09/10 10/11

21

11/12

Sewage treatment worksperformance

%

99.498.4 100 100 100

100100 100 100 100100

07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 12/1311/12Target

Sewagetreatmentworkscompliant withnumericalconsents

Pollution incidents(category 1, 2 and 3)

%

114

101

116 86100

2007 2008 2009 2010

88

20122011Target

Pollution

incidents

119

94

116116

95

07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 12/1311/12

23.9 22.8 26.1

27.4

2530

48

Employeeparticipation inJust an hour

Target

Employee participationin Just an hour

%

50

ommun ty g v ng as apercentage of pre-tax prot1

1.111.16

1.09

1 1 1 1 1 1

07/08 08/09 09/10 10/11 12/1311/12Target

Communitygiving as apercentageof pre-taxprots

1 Includes employee time, gifts in kind and cash support.

1.111.12

29


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Sustainability Highlights 2012 Summary(1)

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