Annual Report 2015 | Page 39

Annual Report 2015 As a result of their activities in this area, a number of businesses have achieved and maintained ISO14001 Environmental Management status. Communities Our CSR programme is focused on giving something back, at a grass roots level, to the communities we serve and operate in, as well as further afield. The Group made charitable donations of £206,000 during 2014/15, in addition to the Group’s coordination of WaterAid fundraising activities continuing in force. South Staffs Water was able to raise its highest ever sum of £12,000 at its annual dinner dance, which included a talk from our education co-ordinator, who spent a week in Uganda seeing firsthand the services WaterAid is able to provide. Over £30,000 was raised for the charity during the year. During the year, South Staffordshire Plc employees took part in a Wolf Run 10km obstacle course and Hydrosave employees organised a cake bake, raising a total of over £4,000 for Acorns Children’s Hospice, a Midlands-based charity offering a network of care for life limited and life threatened children and young people, and their families. Echo Managed Services were proud to be involved with planting poppies at the Tower of London, through their contract with Historic Royal Palaces to handle public orders for the ceramic works of art. Downing Street beckoned for one South Staffs Water employee as a thank you for his awareness raising and fundraising activities for the Liam Fairhurst Foundation. Education also plays a vital role in all our community engagement activity. Throughout recent years we have continued to develop our portfolio of education support to enable us to offer benefits to the wider community. We work closely with a range of schools and education partners to offer children and adults opportunities to enhance their understanding of the world of work and the water industry, as well as more global subjects such as water and the environment. For example, to help raise awareness of Water Saving Week, South Staffs Water invited pupils from a local primary school to design a water saving advert, with the winning design reading “Let’s all save water because we have some and some don’t” being featured in the Express and Star. Customers Putting customer satisfaction at the top of the Group’s agenda, building and further developing relationships with our customers, whether household or business customers, and innovation are all key to the future of the Group. 37