In March 2021, we published our revised Modern Slavery Statement for the new financial year. We encourage all suppliers to read this statement and understand our policies as well as how we mitigate risk within our supply chain.
One method outlined to mitigate the risk of modern slavery and human trafficking is utilising the Modern Slavery Assessment Tool (MSAT). The MSAT is a risk identification and management tool created to help public sector organisations work with suppliers to understand where potential risks lie, encourage suppliers to review their protections, and to promote meaningful engagement.
This will be an ongoing investigation as we aim to assess all recent, current and new suppliers using the MSAT. Being open and transparent is critical to eliminate these practices and we require support from our suppliers for this exercise to be successful.
Following the Modern Slavery Act (2015), other organisations are putting similar activities such as the MSAT in place. Therefore, completing the questionnaire now may also be beneficial if you are seeking work with other public sector organisations. If you have any questions regarding our modern slavery investigation, please contact supplychain@ukaea.uk.
Things you can do to prepare for the MSAT:
Register to the Supplier Registration Service. If the individual you would like to complete the MSAT on behalf of your ogranisation does not have an account, you can register here.
Review your organisation’s current protections against modern slavery. This will allow you to answer the MSAT confidently and make the task quicker. Details on the MSAT can be found here.
Complete the MSAT in preparation. You can complete the MSAT and share your results with UKAEA, or any organisation who requests it, when their invitation code is shared.
Written by Guy Wells, Procurement Business Partner
UKAEA is committed to creating an inclusive and fair culture in both employment and procurement practices. Underpinning this is UKAEA’s strategic approach to Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) called ‘Being Inclusive’ which covers four main themes – people, environment, communication and engagement and policies and practices.
To meet the aims of our strategy, a document has been created which provides procurement staff with guidance in relation to EDI. The document details key areas of EDI to be considered whilst undertaking a procurement exercise and covers everything from pre-market research, questions to consider for the tendering activity and post contract monitoring.
This guidance will also assist our Procurement colleagues in ensuring fair and inclusive practices are followed and will help to ensure that these values are also shared by our supply chain.
Some of the ways UKAEA will ensure these values are included from the moment a procurement exercise starts through to contract delivery are:
Considering EDI at the start of any project with key stakeholders. Where any issues are identified, these can be taken into account at other stages of the procurement.
Including EDI questions in tender packs for bidders to complete to ensure EDI is a consideration throughout our supply chain. Questions could relate to policies in place, training delivered or initiatives undertaken.
Ensuring that our contracts include EDI clauses and that the specification sets out explicitly what the contractor is required to do in terms of EDI.
Ensuring that EDI is followed up after award at contract monitoring meetings, especially where actions identified relate to key performance indicators.
At UKAEA, we have recently awarded a contract to design a world-first tritium research centre at Culham Science Centre.
The H3AT (Hydrogren-3 Advanced Technology) Preliminary and Detailed Design contract was awarded to Atkins as a result of a mini-competition through our EDS (Engineering Design Services) framework.
The H3AT Facility will allow academic and industrial users to research how to store, process and recycle tritium for use in fusion, as well as supporting ongoing work at ITER. This is an exciting step towards realising the potential of fusion as a sustainable energy source. Other programmes that will benefit from tritium research are the DEMO demonstration power plant, and UKAEA’s STEP programme. More information can be found here.
On a social value level, the H3AT Facility will provide many economic and environmental benefits. Tritium is one of the fuels that will supply fusion power stations in the future, so the development and knowledge of tritium and fusion fuel cycle technology is critical to achieve commercial fusion power plants. It will facilitate new jobs and new skills, developing knowledge in an area that is unique. This can also encourage collaboration between users and communities as industries and academics come together in this new research centre. This will be a key part to the development of sustainable, clean energy.
Other opportunities to work on H3AT can be found on our Procurement Pipeline.