Building better digital lives - BT Group plc Digital impact and sustainability report 2018/19 - BT Plc
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
Building better
digital lives BT Group plc
Digital impact and sustainability report 2018/19
Building better Championing human Tackling climate change BT Group plc Digital impact and 01
Introduction digital lives and digital rights and environmental challenges Strong foundations sustainability report 2018/19
In this report
This report sets out our new strategy on digital impact and sustainability,
and the progress we’ve made during 2018/19.
We are preparing our … we’re investing in digital … whilst protecting people’s
customers for the challenges skills to create the workforce privacy as the fourth industrial
and opportunities of tomorrow… of the future… revolution gathers pace…
Introduction Building better digital lives Championing human and digital rights
In this report 01 Making digital skills our priority 07 Protecting people’s rights on and offline 14
Introduction from our Supporting families’ digital lives 08 Respecting human rights in our business 14
Chairman and Chief Executive 02 Supporting working people Sourcing with human dignity 14
Using the power of communications and businesses 10 Tackling modern slavery 15
to make a better world 03 Supporting charity partners 11 Protecting privacy
Our priorities 04 and freedom of expression 16
Our ambitions 05 Strengthening security 17
Shaping the agenda on emerging issues 17
… at the same time we’re reducing … and making sure Online Appendices Using this report
Governance
our emissions and helping we all play our part. Environmental management
our customers do the same… Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
UN Global Compact
UN Sustainable Development Goals Use the document controls located on the
Tackling climate change Strong foundations
LR independent assurance statement bottom of each page to help you navigate
and environmental challenges Doing business ethically 28
Taking a leadership approach 19 Engaging our people 29 Find out more through this report. Other links are also
Supporting documents at our online download centre provide further
Reducing our emissions 20 Attracting and developing diverse talent 30 information on our key non-financial metrics, our digital impact and
indicated by underlined text, or by the
Partnering with suppliers to cut our emissions 22 Supporting employee wellbeing 32 sustainability targets, our BT people data and our environmental data. following symbols:
Reducing impacts from using our products 23
Tell us what you think
Helping customers save emissions 23 We welcome feedback on this report or its contents. Please complete the Reference to other pages within the report
Adapting to climate change 24 online feedback form or contact us via our Twitter account @BTGroup.
Supporting a circular economy 25
Managing environmental impacts 26 Reference to further reading online
Building better Championing human Tackling climate change BT Group plc Digital impact and 02
Introduction digital lives and digital rights and environmental challenges Strong foundations sustainability report 2018/19
Introduction from our
Chairman and Chief Executive
Using the power of People are using more data, in more places and on
more devices than ever before. Ten years ago, there
Building better digital lives is one of the biggest
contributions we can make to society and to the UN
communications to were just three connected devices in the average UK Sustainable Development Goals, together with
home. In five years’ time, it could be as many as 50. championing human and digital rights, and tackling
make a better world. climate change and environmental challenges.
The UK aims to be a leading digital economy, but
faces a major digital skills challenge that’s costing We remain committed to upholding the principles
an estimated £63bn a year. of the UN Global Compact and are helping to drive
the conversation on human rights issues like privacy
BT’s expertise and reach make us uniquely qualified and free expression. We’re also exploring how
to help tackle this. That’s why we’ve put digital technology can be used to combat human trafficking,
skills at the heart of our new strategy on digital and a new smartphone app we helped to develop is
impact and sustainability. It will help grow the enabling the charity, Unseen, to extend the reach
pipeline of digital talent and, over the long-term, of the UK Modern Slavery Helpline.
increase demand for our products and services.
The urgent need for action on climate change was
We have set a goal to reach 10 million people in the underlined by the latest report from the
UK with digital skills training by 2025, building on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change this
our work in primary schools. year. We responded by leading the industry with a
Through our Barefoot Computing programme,
new ambition to become a net zero carbon business
by 2045. Decarbonising our energy use will help us Business has an important role
we’ve already trained over 70,000 teachers over
the past five years, enabling more than two million
achieve this and 87% of our electricity now comes
from renewable sources.
in delivering long-term value
children to get a head start on computational for stakeholders and society.
thinking. And more young people than ever took
part in our Work Ready programme, gaining
Our digital impact and sustainability strategy is
underpinned by strong foundations: keeping people
BT’s focus on digital skills will
hands-on tech skills and experience to help them as safe and healthy, behaving ethically and developing help to prepare people for
they enter the world of work. diverse talent. It’s no coincidence that these
foundations focus on our people. Our people are our an increasingly digital world,
And we’re stepping up our efforts. biggest strength, and will be key to enabling to us
achieve our ambitions as we transform BT and use
equip them for the jobs of
This year, we worked with Code First: Girls to train the power of communications to make a better world. the future, and support
more women as software developers, and BT Sport
partnered with Google Digital Garage to provide Jan du Plessis Philip Jansen the UK’s productivity.”
digital training for small businesses. Chairman Chief Executive Jasmine Whitbread
Non-Executive Director and Chair of BT’s
The UK is not alone in lacking digital skills and we Digital Impact & Sustainability Committee
aim to extend our impact in other key markets. In
India, for example, we’re working with the British
Asian Trust to empower half a million adolescent
girls through technology and education.
Building better Championing human Tackling climate change BT Group plc Digital impact and 03
Introduction digital lives and digital rights and environmental challenges Strong foundations sustainability report 2018/19
Using the power of communications
to make a better world
Our new digital impact and sustainability strategy will
Our purpose – we use the power of communications
help us achieve “win-wins” for communities and our
to make a better world
business and contribute towards global goals.
We’ve updated our strategy to focus on the UK and global challenges that we can
make the most meaningful contribution to through our technology, our reach
and our people (see graphic).
The three main pillars of our strategy are supported by strong foundations: Tackling
Championing
• Keeping people safe and healthy Our strategic Building better climate change
• Behaving ethically human and
• Developing diverse talent
focus areas digital lives and environmental
digital rights
challenges
Supporting our business model
Our business model is based on providing customers with communications and connectivity
services, while delivering great experiences and maintaining long-term relationships.
The new digital impact and sustainability strategy will support this by helping us grow
demand for our products and services, build and enhance our reputation, manage risks, Keeping people safe and A sector-leading approach
Our Reach 10 million people in secure online, whilst to climate change, with
develop talent, make BT the best place to work, and create long-term value for our the UK with digital skills
ambitions protecting privacy and a target for net zero carbon
business and the UK. training by 2025 freedom of expression emissions by 2045
Our digital impact and sustainability strategy
Giving everyone access to the The UK Government is
underpins our goal to deliver sustainable growth. Supporting
digital skills they need is a key committed to tackling the crime
The UK Government’s target
Unless everyone is able to understand and make the UK’s is to reduce emissions by 80%
strand of the UK Government’s of modern slavery that affects an
ambitions by 2050 (from 1990 levels)
use of the technology that surrounds us, people risk Digital Strategy estimated 40m people globally
being left behind. BT’s focus on digital skills
aims to address this challenge. It will help people Contributing
to the UN
and businesses get the best out of technology and Global Goals
at the same time develop the pipeline of talented
Target Target Target Target Target Target Target
people we need to grow our business.” 4.3, 4.4 5b 9.1, 9c 8.7 10.2 12.5, 12.7 13a
Michael Sherman
BT’s Chief strategy & transformation director
Building better Championing human Tackling climate change BT Group plc Digital impact and 04
Introduction digital lives and digital rights and environmental challenges Strong foundations sustainability report 2018/19
Our priorities
We prioritise what matters most to Stakeholder materiality analysis
our stakeholders and our business.
Most material 5 1
High
3
9 2
7 4
10
Significance to our stakeholders
8 6
Every year, we listen to our stakeholders to 11
understand their concerns and we map these Investing in society
against the opportunities we see to make a
difference and the potential risks to our business. 14
This materiality analysis includes looking at how
we can contribute to global challenges, such as 12
We invest in initiatives designed to accelerate
the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
progress towards our ambitions. This year, our 15 13
investments through cash, time volunteered and
Our most material issues remained largely
other in-kind contributions totalled £28.7m. 16
unchanged this year, with cyber/data security
This is equivalent to 0.83% of the previous
continuing to top the list. In line with our new
year’s adjusted profit before tax, falling short of 17
strategy, we’ve brought together the issues of
our target of 1%. Over the last five years, we
digital skills, accessibility and online safety under
have invested an average of 1.02% of adjusted
the topic of digital lives, and combined privacy Moderate Potential impact on our business High
profit before tax.
and data security with other issues grouped under
human and digital rights. Both these wider topics 1 Data/cyber security 16 Electromagnetic Field (and radio frequency
Going forward we will channel much of this
are among our most material issues, together 2 Network investment and innovation health concerns)
investment into initiatives that support our
with climate change which is the third pillar 3 Business ethics (including reporting transparency) 17 Disaster response
strategy to build digital skills and we remain
of our strategy. 4 Climate change Movement since 2018
committed to our 1% target. This is one of the 5 Digital lives
measures we use to track our performance as Greater impact
We address our most material issues in this report, 6 Customer experience Lower impact
a responsible business. 7 Human/digital rights
with the exception of network investment, customer More significance
experience and economic impacts, which are 8 Energy (efficiency/renewables) Less significance
covered in more detail in our Annual Report. 9 Equality and diversity
For more details, see report chapter:
See Our purposeful business targets appendix. 10 Economic impacts
l Building better digital lives
11 Sustainable consumption
l Championing human and digital rights
12 Health, safety and wellbeing
l Tackling climate change and environmental challenges
See Governance appendix for more information on 13 Community and charity support
l Strong foundations
how we manage risk, listen to stakeholders and 14 Emergent tech
l See Annual Report for further details
identify our material issues. 15 Air pollution
Building better Championing human Tackling climate change BT Group plc Digital impact and 05
Introduction digital lives and digital rights and environmental challenges Strong foundations sustainability report 2018/19
Our ambitions
We’ve refocused our ambitions to help us drive progress in the Building better digital lives
areas where we can make the biggest impact. Our ambitions1 2018/19 performance Status
Reach 10m people in the UK with digital skills Not applicable (new goal) New
training by 2025
Help 5m children to receive better teaching
in computer skills by 2020 2m To be
subsumed
children reached into above
since 2014/15 target in
Over the past six years, our ambitions have evolved As we realign our charity partnerships to focus 2019/20
in response to changing priorities for our business on digital skills, we’ve taken the tough decision
and our stakeholders. This year, we reviewed them to close our fundraising platform, MyDonate, from
in light of our new strategy. June 2019 (see page 11). We’ll keep reporting
on progress on use our skills and technology to Tackling climate change and environmental challenges
Our existing environmental targets support our generate more than £1bn for good causes by
Our ambitions 2018/19 performance Status
focus on tackling climate change and we’ve added 2020 but it will no longer be a business priority.
a new one to become a net zero carbon emissions Become a net zero carbon emissions business by 2045
298,461 New
2
business by 2045. But we found some of our social We’ll continue to encourage our people to support
targets weren’t closely enough aligned with our charities through payroll giving and carry on their tonnes CO2e
sharpened focus on digital skills – the area where proud history of volunteering. But this year we in 2018/19
we can deliver the greatest impact for the UK and took the decision to no longer focus purely on the
for BT. proportion of our people who volunteer, which is
why the volunteering participation rate dropped
Cut our carbon emissions intensity by 87%3
by 2030, compared with 2016/17 levels 25.7% Ongoing
reduction achieved
We’ve set a new target to reach 10m people to 26% (see page 12). Instead we will refocus our since 2016/17
in the UK with digital skills training by 2025. volunteering efforts on digital skills.
This supersedes our previous target – to help 10m
people overcome social disadvantage through the
Enable customers to reduce their carbon emissions
by at least three times the end-to-end carbon 2.6:1 Ongoing
impact of our business by 2020 achieved during
benefits our products and services can bring – with 2018/19
a more focused and measurable programme. The
new target builds on our ongoing investment at
the primary school stage and our existing ambition
Buy 100% of our electricity worldwide from
renewable sources by 2020, wherever 87% Ongoing
to help 5m children to receive better teaching in markets allow bought from renewable
computer skills by 2020, which will contribute sources in 2018/19
to the new 2025 ambition.
1 We report progress on our £1bn ambition on page 04.
2 Measured for scopes 1 & 2 greenhouse gases
3 Measured for scopes 1 & 2 greenhouse gases, per unit of gross value added
Building better Championing human Tackling climate change BT Group plc Digital impact and 06
Introduction digital lives and digital rights and environmental challenges Strong foundations sustainability report 2018/19
Building better digital lives
We think everyone should have the cost to the
opportunity to benefit from the power
and potential of the digital world. We’re
£63bn economy of the
digital skills gap
investing in digital skills to improve lives
and bridge the UK’s productivity gap.
In this section
Making digital skills our priority
Supporting families’ digital lives
07
08
11.3m
people lack essential
Supporting working people
and businesses 10 digital skills
Supporting charity partners 11
Building better Championing human Tackling climate change BT Group plc Digital impact and 07
Introduction digital lives and digital rights and environmental challenges Strong foundations sustainability report 2018/19
Making digital skills
our priority
The world is increasingly shaped
Building better digital lives
by technology. But the rapid pace Helping people improve digital skills at key stages of life
of change is leaving people behind –
as many as 11.3m UK adults and 10%
of the UK workforce lack basic digital skills. For your For your
This digital skills gap is costing the UK family business
economy an estimated £63bn a year.
Children Parents Older and Future Women in tech Businesses
disabled people workforce
The challenge 65% of children 75% of parents 3.5m people with a The UK needs Only 30% of the Three in four UK
We can help the UK fill this digital skills gap. And grow demand for who started school want more advice registered disability 500,000 digital digital workforce businesses report
our products and services too. We’re working with partners to make in 2016 are likely to help keep their are offline workers by 2022 will be women a digital skills gap
a difference to families through targeted support at key stages of life. to do jobs that child safe online in 2022
We’re helping businesses upskill their workforce and boost productivity haven’t yet been
by doing more digitally, ourselves included (see graphic). invented
How we’re Inspiring children Helping parents Improving elderly Encouraging STEM Encouraging more Showing businesses
Our commitment to building digital skills is at the heart of our digital
inspiring to develop understand and and disabled education and women into tech how tech can
impact and sustainability strategy and reflected in our new ambition
change computational manage their people’s confidence improving digital jobs both inside help them grow
to reach 10m people in the UK with digital skills training by 2025. thinking and child’s safety in and access to skills for work and outside BT and improve
encouraging STEM online digital capability productivity
But we’re not starting from scratch. Projects such as our flagship education
Barefoot Computing programme in primary schools and our Work Helping employees
Ready programme to help young people get into work are already to reskill
well established.
What we’ve Reached 2m Hosted Safer Launched Helped over 2,700 770 BT women BT Sport partnered
And this is not something we’re doing alone. We’re advising the achieved children through Internet Day 2019 products tailored 16-24-year-olds progressed their with Google Digital
UK Government as a member of the Government’s Digital Skills 70,000 teachers with Internet for customers improve their skills careers on our Garage to help
Partnership and we’re supporting global efforts to bridge the digital with our Barefoot Matters to raise with hearing and employability TechWomen 1,000+
literacy and skills divide through the Coalition for Digital Intelligence. Computing awareness of online impairments with through Work programme and commercial
programme safety issues Action on Hearing Ready since 2014 taught 21 women customers enhance
Our partnerships with charities mean we can reach more people in the Loss in 2018/19 how to code in their skills to grow
UK and abroad, in key markets such as India. And our enthusiastic BT partnership with their business
volunteers will continue to help. Code First: Girls
Above data has been drawn from external sources.
Building better Championing human Tackling climate change BT Group plc Digital impact and 08
Introduction digital lives and digital rights and environmental challenges Strong foundations sustainability report 2018/19
Supporting families’ digital lives
In a world where life and We’re working to inspire early digital thinking in
schoolchildren. We’re helping families build their Crazy
work increasingly depend on digital confidence and stay safe online. And we’re
characters
making it easier for more people to get online,
technology, having the right regardless of their income, age or physical ability. for critical
skills can be the difference Inspiring children’s digital thinking
thinking
between getting ahead Teachers hold the key to children’s digital
or being left behind. development. Our Barefoot Computing programme
is training them to help primary school children
learn, think and thrive in a digital world.
Computational thinking doesn’t have to be difficult.
Barefoot breaks it down into fun and easy lessons
that teach digital concepts like logic and algorithms
(see box). The aim is to help children develop critical
thinking, become digitally literate and be active
participants in a tech-driven world.
We revamped the Barefoot website this year so
teachers can easily download ready-made lesson
plans and games. Barefoot workshops by trained
volunteers – including BT people – help teachers Barefoot’s Crazy Characters activity asks children to create their
build their confidence. 92% of the teachers we’ve own crazy character and write a sequence of instructions for
trained tell us Barefoot gives them greater their friends to follow to draw it. If their friends draw a character
confidence to teach computing. that looks different, the pupil rewrites their instructions until
it looks the same. They’ve just written and debugged their first
Together with our programme partners at BCS, the algorithm – an important building block for computational thinking.
I love busting the myth that Chartered Institute for IT, we celebrated a major
programming is hard. Teachers milestone this year. Barefoot has reached more
than 2m children through 70,000 teachers since it Barefoot resources make teaching computing simple,
can’t believe how simple it can started five years ago. We’ve got 60% of UK primary
schools on board. And we’re not stopping there. fun and uncomplicated. It helps young children understand
be to teach digital concepts. challenging concepts like algorithms in a hands-on way and
The children jump right in to This year, we became the first strategic partner of
the UK Government’s newly created National Centre
develop their logical thinking at their own pace. We love
the games and teachers tell us for Computing Education (NCCE). It’s designed to using Barefoot resources and we highly recommend
improve the reach and quality of computing teaching all schools give it a try.”
they love how interactive it is.” across England. Among other things, we’ll be
bringing our Barefoot Computing programme to Lily Sellers
Ian Clapshaw Teacher, Ashmount Primary School
Barefoot volunteer, BT the heart of the NCCE’s offer for primary schools.
Building better Championing human Tackling climate change BT Group plc Digital impact and 09
Introduction digital lives and digital rights and environmental challenges Strong foundations sustainability report 2018/19
Supporting families’ digital lives
continued
Getting communities online We’re connecting more people outside the UK by
Keeping Access to the digital world can offer better health, helping Jāńgala, a tech start up, develop and test Transforming
finance, education and job prospects. But around portable wi-fi systems for use in refugee camps
children 12% of UK adults are missing out on these and during humanitarian relief. We made them
tariffs for
safe online opportunities because they’ve never been online. available to refugees in Italy and Serbia to contact people with
We’re working with communities to tackle digital their families and get support, and our own hearing loss
exclusion and make sure no one is left behind. emergency response teams are using the
boxes too (see page 24).
We have 12.2 million superfast fibre broadband
customers, covering 86.6% of homes and Improving accessibility
businesses and we have now rolled out ultrafast We’re making technology more accessible for
fibre to 3.2 million homes and businesses. We are older people and those with disabilities, and we
Parents can teach their children how to cross sponsor the annual Tech4Good Awards to support
working with government and Ofcom on options for
the road safely and tell them not to talk to
strangers. But they don’t always know how
a broadband Universal Service Obligation – to
provide 100% of UK homes and businesses with a
accessible product development.
It’s very encouraging to
to keep them safe online. Our free parental
controls enable them to block unsuitable
minimum speed of 10Mbps by 2020. Using Ofcom One in every six people in the UK live with some see EE making sure their
measures, our mobile network now provides 84% form of hearing loss, but most mobile tariffs focus
content and manage children’s online activities.
geographic coverage in the UK. We aim to be the on voice calls that they can’t use. This year, EE customers living with
We’re a founding partner of Internet Matters
UK’s first mobile provider to offer 5G, launching in
16 busy UK cities in 2019.
partnered with Action on Hearing Loss to launch
special tariffs with more data and fewer minutes so
deafness and hearing loss
and Plusnet is now a member alongside BT
and EE. We partner to offer advice and tools
that people with hearing loss can communicate are not being financially
to help families stay safe online.
We’ve also helped connect more than 800
hard-to-reach communities since 2016 with our
visually via SMS and video calls (see quote).
disadvantaged and are able
We supported the Safer Internet Day
community fibre partnership grants for broadband We provide sign language on our websites and we to access phone packages
infrastructure. And anyone can access free ultrafast offer a Next Generation Text relay service so that
campaign, inspiring customers, our colleagues
wi-fi from more than 350 InLink street units we’ve people with hearing loss and speech impaired that are better suited to their
and teachers to join a national conversation
about using technology responsibly, reaching
installed across 19 UK towns and cities. More than
250,000 people have used them since 2017.
customers can make calls. This is now available on
all InLink street units too.
needs. We’ve been working
46% of young people in the UK. We hosted an
event for Safer Internet Day 2019 at our
in partnership with EE’s
We offer accessibility advice and products through
headquarters, BT Centre, for school pupils,
Even when the network is there, some people still
don’t go online. Our research with the Good Things our IncludingYou website. BT customer service excellent Customer Disability
tech executives and government officials to
discuss online consent and we launched a new
Foundation confirmed that barriers include not
seeing any benefit to being online and finding it
teams are trained to support customers with
accessibility needs, as well as older customers
Team so that people with
Barefoot teaching resource on the same topic.
too complicated or too expensive. We’re helping with conditions like dementia and Alzheimer’s. hearing loss can benefit
We also supported Anti-Bullying Week 2018
overcome some of these hurdles with low-cost
BT Basic + Broadband and Plusnet broadband
This year, we created a new Customer Disability
Team for EE customers.
from all the latest mobile
by promoting the #StopSpeakSupport campaign
run by the Royal Foundation Taskforce on the
packages for people on low incomes or certain and assistive technology.”
government benefits. We’ve also supported
Prevention of Cyberbullying. Tim Willett
essential digital skills training for over 600 older,
disabled and low-income people in Scotland to Executive Director of Engagement,
tackle poverty, social isolation and inequality. Action on Hearing LossBuilding better Championing human Tackling climate change BT Group plc Digital impact and 10
Introduction digital lives and digital rights and environmental challenges Strong foundations sustainability report 2018/19
Supporting working people
and businesses
In the UK, more than 500,000 Our Skills for Work one-day boot camps give
14-18-year-olds more confidence to apply for
Addressing the digital skills gender gap
Science, technology, engineering and maths
Supporting small businesses
Three quarters of UK businesses say they have
highly-skilled workers will be jobs, go to interviews and give presentations. This (STEM) roles have historically been male dominated. a digital skills gap. That means they could be
year, over 1,900 teenagers took part, many of
needed to fill digital roles by them from areas of high unemployment.
Even by 2022, women are expected to make up
only 30% of the UK’s digital workforce. We’re
missing out on opportunities to save time and
costs, increase their profit and keep customers
2022. That’s three times the encouraging women into tech roles to address
this looming gap and we’re a signatory to the
happy. By improving their digital capabilities,
we can help them succeed and grow.
number of computer science Getting Tech Talent Charter.
young people
graduates in the last decade. We’re already helping SMEs with digital skills,
work ready We’re encouraging girls – and boys – to improve their through initiatives like the free digital training
STEM learning as soon as they start school through workshops run in partnership between BT Sport
We’re helping businesses large and small – ourselves Barefoot (see page 08). And this year, female BT and Google Digital Garage for customers who own
included – upskill their workforces and boost colleagues spoke to more than 900 schoolgirls pubs and clubs. We held 11 workshops and also
productivity by doing more digitally. And we’re aged 11-15 about future roles with us. visited individual venues, helping over 1,000
encouraging more young people – and women in BT Sport commercial customers to enhance their
particular – into the tech sector to grow our own Our BT furtHER programme in partnership with online profile of their venues, and attract more
and the wider digital talent pipeline. Code First: Girls takes women from beginner coders customers via social media.
to the starting point for a career as a software
Supporting young people to access tech jobs developer in just four months. We’ve taken on
An estimated 300,000 young people in the UK today 21 women as junior software developers in
lack basic digital skills. Many disadvantaged young our Technology team this year.
people are not achieving positive outcomes online,
particularly when it comes to education and We’ve also expanded our TechWomen programme
employment. I’d finished my A-levels and decided for BT women (see box on next page) and
I didn’t want to go to university. supported female colleagues at the middle stages
We want to help change that. Our Work Ready of their career to gain apprentice level
programme prepares 16-24-year-olds for the world I needed experience to help me find qualifications to move into tech roles within our
of work and teaches them practical skills to improve a job. I shadowed an engineer for six company. A team from Openreach also showcased
employability. Young people not currently in education, STEM-related roles on offer to young women at a
employment or training gain hands-on tech skills days and it was out of this world. You
British Army event celebrating 100 years of women
and work experience with us. More than 2,700 learn so much about what happens in the forces.
have graduated from Work Ready since 2014. behind the scenes of technology. That
helps you in all areas, even customer Just 22% of chief information officers in leading
More young people than ever took part this UK organisations are women. This year, we hosted
calendar year with 982 starting the programme in service, because you know how to an event for our customers’ IT leaders, attended
2018, and 77% completing it. In the 2017 cohort, help people more. I’d recommend by female CIOs, IT directors and heads of IT, to
55% went on to get a job or an apprenticeship or help build a strong network of connections in the
went into further education. We aim to ensure that BT work placements to anyone.”
technology sector who can lead future change.
each annual Work Ready cohort is an equivalent Yasmeen Awais
size to 1% of our own workforce, as part of our Work Ready participant, Blackburn
commitment as a founding member of the
Movement to Work coalition.Building better Championing human Tackling climate change BT Group plc Digital impact and 11
Introduction digital lives and digital rights and environmental challenges Strong foundations sustainability report 2018/19
Supporting working people
and businesses
Supporting charity partners
continued
Our We’re using our technology As a founding partner of the Geared for Giving
campaign, we are building an online tool that will
TechWomen and expertise to improve help drive uptake of payroll giving across the UK,
in addition to bolstering our own employee
of the future people’s lives in the UK contributions. This year our people donated over
and globally through charity £2.9m to more than 1,500 charities through
payroll giving.
partnerships and volunteering.
We’ve also partnered with Do-it.org, one of the
UK’s leading volunteering databases, to create
Doit.life. The digital platform enables people to
This year, we continued to support major connect to charities, schools and civil society
campaigns for charities, including Stand Up organisations to find volunteering opportunities.
to Cancer for Cancer Research UK, SoccerAid This year, we trialled the platform with some of
for Unicef and Red Nose Day for Comic Relief. our people in the UK and opened it to all our
Openreach continued its long standing support people in India.
of SSAFA – the armed forces charity.
Partnering with charities to improve
Using technology for good digital skills
We’ve continued to use our technology to help Going forward, we will focus our work with charities
charities boost fundraising efforts through our on the area we think we’ll deliver the greatest
MyDonate fundraising platform and our Digital Tin impact: digital skills. This year, we’ve worked with
contactless fundraising devices, But we’ve made Unicef to identify a project that will help thousands
the tough decision to close MyDonate in June of young people in Brazil to enhance their digital
2019. It was the UK’s first fee-free platform when skills and we stepped up our support through
introduced in 2011, but there are now many other charity partnerships in India.
providers in the market.
Our TechWomen programme helps hundreds of In 2017/18, 41% of participants secured The BT Supporters Club also funded a ground-
women in technology and commercial roles a bigger role after completing the programme. We’re proud of what we achieved, helping raise breaking digital training programme with Football
progress their careers. 87% said they were more confident driving their more than £400m over the last nine years. But it is Beyond Borders. Young people gained digital
own career and 90% felt more confident now time to lead in another important area for the media, filmmaking and public speaking skills, and
Over the course of a year, participants get networking. UK. Our work with charities and other partners will the chance to write and produce their own football
face-to-face training, masterclasses, coaching, increasingly focus on digital skills. We will continue show for TV. Since it was set up over five years ago,
and access to a new network of peers and senior to report on our ambition to use our skills and the BT Supporters Club has raised over £10m for
leaders. The number of women taking part technology to generate more than £1bn for good Comic Relief thanks to BT Sport customers
doubled this year to 770. We added a new course causes by 2020, but it will no longer be a business donating through their monthly bill.
priority. Since 2012/13, we’ve used our technology
770
for women in early management roles, as well as
training senior leaders. We’ve expanded the and expertise to help generate more than £646m
programme to India too. Women taking part this year for good causes, including £109m this year.Building better Championing human Tackling climate change BT Group plc Digital impact and 12
Introduction digital lives and digital rights and environmental challenges Strong foundations sustainability report 2018/19
Supporting charity partners
continued
Mobilising our people
We want our people to be digital champions. Empowering
Everyone at BT can take up to three days a year
for volunteering and we’re encouraging them
young people
to use that time to develop digital skills in their in India through
communities. Our people can get a lot back innovation and
from volunteering too. They learn new skills,
build confidence and expand their horizons. technology in
education
This year, we took the decision to no longer
focus purely on the proportion of our people
who volunteer, which is why the volunteering
participation rate dropped to 26%. Instead,
we will refocus our volunteering efforts on digital
skills – the area we think will deliver the greatest
impact for the UK and BT.
In the year ahead we’ll develop a new target, to
replace our existing participation one, that better
reflects the impact and growing contribution our
people are making through volunteering. As an
example, this year, nearly 2,500 of our people
contributed over 6,700 days supporting our
programmes on digital skills and helping
young people prepare for the world of work.
In India, around 150m school age children are We’re also pioneering new finance models to This builds on our existing work to tackle
illiterate. Improving their literacy – and digital support learning on an even bigger scale as the illiteracy in India through the Katha Information
literacy – can make a big difference to their first corporate to support the British Asian Trust’s Technology and E-commerce School (KITES) that
future prospects. education development impact bond. It aims to we set up with the charity and publisher Katha in
improve literacy and numeracy skills for more 2001. It’s helped over 375,000 children in the
This year, we launched a three-year partnership than 300,000 children in India through slums of New Delhi learn how to read, with
with the British Asian Trust to empower half a local partnerships. support from BT volunteers. This year, we
million young people, with a particular focus on supported the development of new online
adolescent girls, in India. It will use apps, videos learning resources to reach more children.
and other interactive digital technologies to break
down social barriers and improve young people’s
health, education, employability and life skills.Building better Championing human Tackling climate change BT Group plc Digital impact and 13
Introduction digital lives and digital rights and environmental challenges Strong foundations sustainability report 2018/19
Championing human
and digital rights The same
rights that people
have offline must
also be protected
40m
online.
Everyone’s entitled to basic rights and freedoms –
both on and offline. We’re committed to respecting estimated worldwide victims
The UN Human
Rights Council in 2017
these rights, partnering to combat modern slavery and of modern slavery
helping to drive the conversation on issues like privacy.
In this section
Protecting people’s rights on and offline 14
Respecting human rights in our business 14
Sourcing with human dignity 14
Tackling modern slavery 15
Protecting privacy and freedom
of expression 16
Strengthening security 17
Shaping the agenda on emerging issues 17Building better Championing human Tackling climate change BT Group plc Digital impact and 14
Introduction digital lives and digital rights and environmental challenges Strong foundations sustainability report 2018/19
Protecting people’s rights Sourcing with human dignity
on and offline
Human rights are important We’re committed to respecting human rights
in our own business (see box) and our supply chain.
Respecting human rights If we find an issue, we assess the risk and how
best to deal with it. We identified 368 high and
for everyone – society, And we’re taking a lead on modern slavery, is fundamental to the way medium-risk suppliers this year, and followed up
including partnering with others to unlock the with all of them within a three-month period to
government and business. We power of technology in combating this crime. we work and we want to request more information, we then decide whether
use the UN Guiding Principles We have strong safeguards in place to protect
partner with suppliers who we need to take any further action. This may
include an audit – we conducted 53 on-site
on Business and Human Rights customers’ data against cyber-attacks and protect share this commitment. assessments this year. We track progress monthly
to shape our approach. their privacy and free expression. Issues like online
freedoms and privacy are evolving as people
to check we’re dealing with high and medium-risk
suppliers effectively and that improvements are
spend more time online. We’re helping the UK being made. If they don’t show any commitment
Government think about the changing nature to improve, we may stop working with them.
of these complex issues.
Supplier assessments on social
We’re also responding to other emerging issues and environmental criteria
relevant to our industry, such as artificial 2017/18 2018/19
intelligence and human rights in sports Self-assessments by new or
broadcasting (see page 17). renewed contract suppliers 917 782
Suppliers identified as
high or medium risk 269 368
We spent around £13.4bn this year with more
than 16,000 direct suppliers in nearly 100 % of high or medium-risk
Respecting human rights in our business countries. To work with us, they must commit to
meeting our requirements on Sourcing with Human
suppliers reviewed within
three months as follow-up 100% 100%
We’re committed to respecting the dignity, All of our people must complete training on Dignity and other fundamentals like our standards On-site assessments
liberty and equality of everyone we work with. human rights as part of our mandatory annual on ethics, health and safety, environment, product (Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers) 52 53
This is part of the BT ethics code that everyone training on the BT ethics code. We provide stewardship and climate change (see page 22
at BT must follow. additional training for the teams who are for more on our work with suppliers to cut
carbon emissions). Looking deeper in the supply chain
involved with higher risk areas. Our supply chain is large and complex. We’re
This year, we launched an overarching human looking beyond our direct (Tier 1) suppliers to check
rights policy. It brings together existing policies We encourage our colleagues, contractors and We work with our suppliers – and their suppliers –
to check they meet these standards. We’re also that their suppliers (our Tier 2) also comply with our
in one place to explain the human rights we are suppliers to report concerns, including through standards. This year, we audited 33 Tier 1 and 20
more likely to affect and how we’re addressing our confidential Speak Up helpline (see page 28). improving the process we use to evaluate potential
suppliers on social and environmental criteria. We’re Tier 2 suppliers, focusing on the suppliers identified
these risks. as highest risk.
introducing a new pre-qualification questionnaire
Our due diligence processes help us identify which will flag potential risks or early-warning signs
and manage potential human rights risks in our before we decide to work with a supplier. We’re
operations. The Digital Impact & Sustainability especially alert to the risk of modern slavery
Committee, a Board committee, oversees our in our supply chain (see page 15).
human and digital rights programme worldwide.Building better Championing human Tackling climate change BT Group plc Digital impact and 15
Introduction digital lives and digital rights and environmental challenges Strong foundations sustainability report 2018/19
Sourcing with human dignity
continued
Tackling modern slavery
We’ve started mapping the supply chain of two of
our consumer products, our DECT phone and our
More than 40m people National
Smart Hub. We now know who supplies many of around the world are thought Anti‑Slavery
the components of these products as far as Tier 4
of the supply chain so we’re better able to to be in some form of slavery. Day
understand potential risks. Much more needs to be done
We’re members of the Responsible Business to stamp out this crime and
Alliance (RBA), a business coalition for responsible
supply chains. This gives us greater visibility of the
we’re working with partners
lower tiers of our supply chain by giving us access to look at how technology
to audit information shared by others in our
industry. We’re using the RBA’s shared supplier can help.
database to check suppliers’ performance and
take action if necessary.
Checking for conflict minerals
Electronic devices may contain tantalum, tin,
tungsten and gold. These are known as conflict Leading change in business and society On National Anti-Slavery Day in October 2018, we lit up the BT Tower with
minerals if they are sourced from war-torn or Forced, bonded or child labour is never acceptable. modern slavery messages, visible to thousands of people across London.
politically unstable places such as the Democratic We have systems in place to help us prevent any form This included highlighting the modern slavery helpline and smartphone app.
Republic of Congo, that have a heightened risk of of slavery in our own business or our supply chain.
human rights abuses. Our Modern Slavery Act statement explains how.
Our conflict minerals policy explains how we’re We believe technology can help combat modern It is only by a close partnership between
managing this risk and we report progress in our slavery and we’re exploring how through Tech
Against Trafficking, a coalition of organisations
committed stakeholders that we can begin to
annual conflict minerals disclosure. We’re also
members of the Responsible Minerals Initiative including Amazon, AT&T, Microsoft, Nokia, effectively combat and ultimately prevent modern
which is helping us review and compare our
approach against industry standards.
Vodafone, Salesforce.org and anti-trafficking
experts. This year, the group began mapping ways slavery. The partnership of BT and Unseen is an
that technology is already combating slavery
around the world, identifying over 200 solutions
exemplar of this and we encourage others to
so far. Each solution was assessed to determine partner and collaborate to end slavery.”
the potential to scale up their impact with the
help of the group. Our plan is to collaborate on Andrew Wallis
high potential solutions to support the CEO, Unseen
fight against slavery.Building better Championing human Tackling climate change BT Group plc Digital impact and 16
Introduction digital lives and digital rights and environmental challenges Strong foundations sustainability report 2018/19
Tackling modern slavery
continued
Protecting privacy
and freedom of expression
We’re also working with the UK Government
and other businesses to champion best practices
The rights people have offline must also be protected online.
through the Home Office’s Business Against We work hard to protect our customers from online harms
Slavery Forum. This year, we funded the
development of a digital platform to support and safeguard their privacy and security, supporting their
Bright Future, a programme started by a fellow
member of the Home Office’s Business Against
right to free expression.
Slavery Forum, the Co-operative Group. The
programme aims to help survivors of human
trafficking and modern slavery find secure work.
City Hearts, the charity operating the scheme,
will be able to use the new digital platform to But our customers’ right to privacy is not absolute. Balancing privacy and government Blocking illegal content
post opportunities and match suitable candidates Governments can request access to information investigatory powers We believe everyone should have access to any
against paid work placements across the UK. that could help to fight serious crime or terrorism, In some situations, authorities can legally override content online as long as it’s legal. So we won’t
and the law requires us to provide it. We take the right to privacy because they need access to block access to material on the internet except in
Raising awareness this issue very seriously. We have due diligence people’s communications and data to help stop a very specific set of circumstances (see our
No country is immune to modern slavery. In processes for dealing with such requests and serious crime and terrorism. This can be vitally BT Privacy and Free Expression Report). This
the UK, tens of thousands of men, women and are transparent about our approach. important to national security and we’ve a legal includes images of child sexual abuse flagged by the
children are believed to be victims. But public obligation to provide this information. Internet Watch Foundation. We also offer parental
awareness remains low. Protecting customers’ privacy controls and work with Internet Matters to make
Customers expect us to keep their information The government has to find the right balance the internet safer for children (see page 09).
We partner with the charity Unseen to raise safe and private. We must – and do – protect our between protecting people’s security and their
public awareness of slavery in society and customers’ personal data (see page 17). And privacy and free expression. We assess any requests Filtering helps to block access to harmful content
provide communications services, equipment when we design a new product or service, we in line with our process, and we will ask for clarity online. But illegal content spread on social media
and consultancy to support the UK modern consider privacy from the very start. We call this if we need to. We have strong internal governance is beyond our control. We don’t think internet
slavery helpline it runs. The helpline provides privacy by design. in place and our Investigatory Powers Governance providers like us should be making judgement calls
access to information and support on a 24/7 Committee, a Board committee, oversees all our about what content is and isn’t acceptable. But we
basis for victims of modern slavery, businesses, In May 2018, new EU data protection regulations activity in this area. The BT Privacy and Free think someone should. In September 2018, we
authorities and the general public. Since its came into force that enhance privacy rights for Expression Report 2019 lays out how we respond joined other broadcasters and media providers in
launch in October 2016, it has received many individuals. We welcomed these changes and to these requests in the UK and 20 other countries. an urgent call for an independent watchdog to
thousands of contacts indicating over 13,500 took steps to ensure compliance. We simplified regulate the industry and make the internet
potential victims. the language of our privacy policy and added more We’ve joined the Global Network Initiative – safer for everyone.
detail on how we’re using our customers’ data. an organisation at the forefront of the debates on
This year, we developed an app with Unseen to We used training, posters, videos and quizzes to privacy and freedom of expression – to keep our
make it even easier to report suspected cases of alert colleagues of their duty to keep data secure approach in line with best practice.
modern slavery. It also offers tips on how to spot – and what to do if there’s a breach.
the signs of slavery.Building better Championing human Tackling climate change BT Group plc Digital impact and 17
Introduction digital lives and digital rights and environmental challenges Strong foundations sustainability report 2018/19
Strengthening Shaping the agenda
security on emerging issues
Security is fundamental to protecting our customers’ privacy. Human and digital rights risks are constantly evolving.
By keeping our networks secure, we’re helping to keep their We’re working with others to understand these risks
personal information and private communications safe from and shape the agenda on emerging issues relevant
increasingly sophisticated cyber-crimes like phishing, to our business.
malware and hacking.
We’re taking a leading role in the fight against This year, 175,000 hours of training helped to Exploring the ethics of artificial intelligence
cyber-crime and we’re empowering our customers equip our teams with the skills they need to protect Artificial intelligence (AI) has a lot of useful
to protect themselves too. BT and our customers against cyber-attacks. applications. But there are challenges. The criteria BT has been a critical partner
Bolstering our defences
Sixteen apprentices joined our team this year and
we will welcome more next year as we build
it uses to make decisions must be clear and the data
it uses must be high quality – which means correct,
of the Centre from its inception
Our security council is responsible for managing essential skills for the future (see page 10). complete, and bias-free to avoid discrimination. through to today. From playing
cyber security risks. It reports to our Executive
Committee. Automated systems and the BT Empowering our customers
That’s why respecting human rights is at the heart
of our approach as we explore further uses for AI. a key role in developing tools
Security team, of over 3,000 colleagues around the
world, monitor customer and BT devices at all
We offer customers advice and tools to help them
protect themselves online too. In 2018, we ran We’re drawing on all of our experience in
to help broadcasters embed
times. Between October and December 2018 they a campaign to encourage people to fortify their AI research to contribute to the emerging debate human rights into its operations,
blocked an average of 135m connections to
malware sites each month, protecting our
homes against cyber-criminals. Our website offers
practical tips on how to choose strong passwords,
on the ethics of this technology. We responded to
the UK Government’s consultation on the new
to leading the broadcast voice
systems and keeping our customers’ data safe. spot scams and protect digital files like photos. Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation this year. into discussions around collective
We’re also part of techUK’s working group on
We publish the number of phishing attacks, Customers can also use our free software to help digital ethics. action, BT has proven itself
scams and malware sites we’re detecting on our
new Cyber Index website. We’ve done this to be
keep their data safe. Products like BT Protect are
designed to detect viruses, malware and spyware. Protecting human rights in sports
invaluable to our work.”
more transparent, raise awareness of the risks and broadcasting Mary Harvey
show what we’re doing behind the scenes to protect Working together Sport has the power to be a uniting force for good CEO, Centre for Sport and Human Rights
our customers. We’re working with others to help combat in society. But more work needs to be done to fully
cyber-crime. Last year, we became the first align the world of sport with the fundamental
Many of our products are moving to the cloud to telecommunications provider in the world to start principles of human rights.
give our customers flexibility and greater security. sharing information about malicious software and
We carry out due diligence on our cloud providers websites with our peers. This builds on our existing We’re on the advisory council of the Centre for
to check they meet the latest industry security data-sharing agreements with the National Cyber Sport and Human Rights that launched in June
standards. Security Centre and law enforcement organisations 2018. Through this stakeholder alliance, we work
such as INTERPOL. We’re calling on other UK with governments, civil society, sports bodies and
We’re investing in research, innovation and training broadband providers to follow our lead and other broadcasters and sponsors to navigate the
to ensure we stay one step ahead of the criminals. share this type of data too. risks and take action.You can also read
