We believe that good governance of corporate responsibility issues enhances business value through reducing risk and identifying new business opportunities. Our corporate responsibility programmes, objectives and targets are integrated into business planning and managed by the Severn Trent Executive Committee. Corporate responsibility governance is provided by the Corporate Responsibility Committee of the board, which is chaired by a non executive director, Bernard Bulkin, and also includes the chairman of the board, the group chief executive and the managing directors of our main business units. The committee meets at least four times a year and has delegated responsibility from the board which includes the oversight of: environmental performance; health and safety; diversity; supply chain assessment; and growth opportunities arising from corporate responsibility issues.

We have a comprehensive corporate responsibility policy which defines how we incorporate our goal into our daily activities. In addition a Code of Conduct which applies to all our employees and we expect all those who work with us to honour both the letter and the spirit of the code. To drive performance we set targets in pursuit of our corporate responsibility objectives for the company as a whole and for individual business units. An element of executive directors' and senior managers' annual bonus payments is dependent on the achievement of some of these targets.