Modern slavery act statement

Introduction

This statement sets out our actions to understand the potential modern slavery risks related to the business and to continue to ensure action is taken aimed at ensuring that there is no slavery or human trafficking in the business.

Organisational Structure

We are an exciting and fast-growing network of dental practices. We put in place everything a practice needs to make it the best place to work which in turn attracts the brightest dental talent, resulting in the highest quality treatment and choice for our NHS and private patients.

Relevant Policies

We operate the following polices which set out our approach to the identification of modern slavery risks and steps to be taken to prevent slavery and human trafficking in its operations:

Anti-slavery Policy

We have an Anti-slavery and Human Trafficking Policy which is reviewed annually and reflects our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business relationships and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure slavery and human trafficking is not taking place anywhere in our operations. The policy applies to all employees and persons working for us in any capacity. It explains the nature of Anti-slavery and Human Trafficking, the reason to operate the policy, and to whom the policy applies. It also clearly sets out how to report any concerns about Anti-slavery or Human Trafficking.

Whistleblowing Policy

We encourage all our workers, customers and other business partners to report any concerns to the direct activities, or the organisation. This includes any circumstances that may give rise to an enhanced risk of slavery or human trafficking. Our whistleblowing procedure is designed to make it easy for workers to make disclosures, without fear of retaliation. We have had no reports regarding Anti-slavery and human Trafficking during the period covered by this statement.

Employee Expectations

Dental Partners has clear expectations of all employee and colleague’s behaviour when they are representing the organisation.

This is supported in our approach of becoming the Best Place to Work, we strive to maintain the highest standard of employee and colleague conduct and ethical behaviour.

Due Diligence Processes for slavery and Human Trafficking

As part of our initiative to identify and mitigate risk we have in place processes to:

• Mitigate the risk of slavery and human trafficking occurring in our business, including ensuring compliance with Modern Slavery Act 2015 is a condition of all our supplier contracts.
• Protect whistle blowers.

Training and Awareness

To ensure a high level of understanding of the risk of modern slavery and human trafficking in our business, we will continue to raise awareness of modern slavery issues for all relevant staff and colleagues in particular:

• The basis principles of the Modern Slavery Act 2015;
• How employees can identify and prevent slavery and human trafficking; and
• What employees can do to flag up potential slavery or human trafficking issues to the relevant parties within the organisation and in accordance with Whistleblowing policy and procedure.

Our Effectiveness in Combating Slavery and Human Trafficking

We ensure all relevant staff are made aware of the basic principles of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and know how to flag any concerns to the business.

In addition, we continue to review operations and suppliers, where necessary, contact suppliers to ensure that they agree to comply with the requirements of the Act and the Group’s policy.

Following a review of the effectiveness of the steps we have taken to ensure there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in our operations, we intend to take the following further steps:

• Review our supplier due diligence processes.
• Review our recruitment processes.
• Ensure that training is updated, and all relevant staff continue to be made aware of the principles of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and its relevance to their role.

This statement is approved by the board of directors and made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes our Group’s slavery and Human Trafficking statement and will be reviewed and updated annually in accordance with the financial year end.