SGS UK Ltd's short form report
SGS United Kingdom Ltd was commissioned by Premier Farnell plc to conduct an independent assurance of the 2009 CSR Report, which comprised an evaluation of the text and 2008 data in accompanying tables for content veracity.
The assurance included interviews and review of documents and records at Premier Farnell plc facilities in UK and USA.
Assurance opinion
On the basis of our methodology and the verification work performed, we are satisfied that the information and data contained within the 2009 CSR Report verified is reliable and provides a reasonable representation of Premier Farnell plc’s CSR activities in 2008.
Key areas for improvement to data collection, submission and manipulation and to report content were identified during the assurance process and, as far as possible, were addressed to incorporate improvements into this report. These improvement opportunities are outlined below to enable further review and establish the need for system or process changes in future reporting cycles and to consider reporting on additional information in future reports.
- Normalisation of data could be undertaken using a factor more directly related to the size and scale of operations;
- Actual data could be obtained for newly acquired sites in future reporting cycles;
- Consideration should be made to reporting on supplier impacts where they have a significant impact;
- Consideration should be given to reporting on all data collected to provide a more complete representation of the Company’s impacts;
- Estimation should be minimised wherever possible and checks should be carried out on information provided by suppliers;
- Conversion factors should be maintained with reference to up to date information sources;
- A system should be considered for ensuring source data is available to those responsible for reporting it and maintained as evidence for assurance process;
- Consideration should be made to reduce the number of manual data entries and transfers to the minimum in order to reduce errors in reporting.
Signed:
For and on behalf of SGS United Kingdom Ltd
Pauline Earl
Managing Director
8 April 2009