Climate Change Data

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Environmental
• Social
• Ethical

Environmental Achievements

• Reduced waste sent to landfill by approximately 26 tonnes in 2006.
• Switched to Green Energy at Abingdon headquarters, estimating a reduction of over 2,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per annum.
• Introduced the ecoquiet PC, using up to one-third less energy than a standard computer.

Social Achievements

• Increased employee satisfaction to 73.2% (up from 72.0% in 2005).
• Exceeded target to increase employee satisfaction.
• Continued relationship with Volunteer Reading Help and worked with ten children's charities.
• Active partnership with Digital Links International, reusing 2,500 computers for educational benefits in African schools.
• Worked closely with the School Governors’ One Stop Shop, exceeding the target for new governors.

Governance Achievements

• Complied with the Combined Code on Corporate Governance July 2003.

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Challenging market conditions, including budget pressures on schools and declining effectiveness of Electronic Learning Credits (eLCs).
• Increased competition in the educational software market due to the BBC's entry.
• Slower than anticipated rollout of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.

Mitigation Strategies

• Sharpened business focus on four key areas: systems and infrastructure, assessment and data services, education management systems, and education resources and software.
• Increased proportion of PCs sold from the RM One and RM Mobile One ranges to increase average selling prices.
• Continued investment in BSF, despite slower rollout.
• Limited new investment in educational content areas threatened by BBC activities.

Supply Chain Management

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Sustainable Products & Innovation

• ecoquiet PC

Awards & Recognition

• Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Sustainable Development (Beacon Press)

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Environment
• Social
• Governance

Environmental Achievements

• Reduced average CO2 emissions of RM Education’s car fleet by 8%, achieving an average consumption of 53.9 miles per gallon.
• Increased recycling at RM’s Abingdon facility to approximately 70% of waste.

Social Achievements

• Recognized by the Corporate Research Foundation as one of the UK’s Top Employers and the UK’s Top ICT Employer.
• 80% of employees reported being proud to work at RM.
• RM Education Solutions India runs a Scholarship Scheme supporting eight students in computer science and technology degree courses.
• Supported UK charities Whizz Kidz and Helen and Douglas House.

Governance Achievements

• Complied with The Combined Code on Corporate Governance June 2008.
• Established four Board committees: Audit, Remuneration, Nominations, and Transactions.

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Significant policy changes by the UK Government affecting the UK Learning Technologies business.
• Reduction in committed revenues due to the UK Government’s review of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme.
• Intense global competition in IT hardware market leading to price reductions and margin pressures.

Mitigation Strategies

• Increased diversity of revenue streams through a broad product portfolio and international expansion.
• Restructured Strategic Projects sales team to reduce costs.
• Reduced exposure to commodity hardware sales.
• Foreign exchange hedging activity.
• Investment in maintaining high levels of technical expertise and customer satisfaction programs.

Supply Chain Management

Supplier Audits: Not disclosed

Responsible Procurement

• Working with suppliers to reduce air freight of components.

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Physical Risks

• Not disclosed

Transition Risks

• Not disclosed

Opportunities

• Not disclosed

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: Null

Certifications: ISO 14001, ISO 9001

Third-party Assurance: Not disclosed

UN Sustainable Development Goals

• Not disclosed

Not disclosed

Sustainable Products & Innovation

• Not disclosed

Awards & Recognition

• UK’s Top Employers
• UK’s Top IT Employer

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Environmental
• Social
• Governance

Environmental Achievements

• Reduced emissions per FTE employee from 3.17 tCO2e/employee in 2012 to 3.17 tCO2e/employee in 2013 (Note: The report states a reduction in emissions per employee but provides identical figures for both years. This needs clarification.)
• Implemented energy saving features in products and efficient utility usage.

Social Achievements

• Launched a new parent-focused program allowing parents to purchase products from school-distributed catalogs, with a percentage of revenue going back to the schools.
• Implemented a health and safety management system aiming to continually improve health and safety implementation and meet the requirements of OHSAS 18001.

Governance Achievements

• Established an escrow account for initiatives to reduce risks related to the defined benefit pension scheme.
• Implemented a formal ‘whistle blowing’ policy.

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Decline in the Building Schools for the Future (‘BSF’) programme.
• Declining transactional volumes for hardware.
• Continued funding pressures in the UK education sector.
• Devolution of purchasing decisions to schools and academy groups.
• Reduced funding streams to Early Years and nurseries.
• Weaker than anticipated rate of contract wins with new customers and for onscreen testing.
• Public policy changes affecting education spending.
• Global economic conditions impacting public spending.
• Changes in education practices and priorities.
• Rapid and unpredictable changes in the IT market.
• Foreign currency risk.
• Counterparty risk on liquid assets.
• Defined Benefit Pension Scheme deficit.

Mitigation Strategies

• Strategic decision to discontinue the manufacture and distribution of computer hardware to expand software and service offerings.
• Operational reorganisation.
• Improved margins on long-term contracts.
• Increased focus on marketing and telephone sales.
• Significant cost base reduction exercise at SpaceKraft.
• New management team appointed at SpaceKraft.
• Closer integration of SpaceKraft back-office support with TTS.
• Regular monitoring of policy positions and building relationships with education policy makers.
• Increasing the diversity of revenue streams.
• Maintaining close relationships with customers.
• Investing in maintaining a high level of technical expertise.
• Implementing customer satisfaction programmes.
• Internal management control processes for project delivery.
• Product development processes taking account of international safety regulations.
• Investment in Data Centres and ISO/IEC 27001:2005 certification.
• Information Security Committee and back-up and safety measures.
• Property damage and business interruption insurance cover.
• Talent management and career planning programmes.
• Monitoring technology and market developments.
• Developing new products (RM Books, RM Unify, RM Neon).
• Entering into US Dollar and Indian Rupee denominated hedging contracts.
• Limits placed on deposits with any one counterparty.
• Evaluating risk mitigation proposals with Scheme Trustees.

Supply Chain Management

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard

Certifications: ISO/IEC 27001:2005

Sustainable Products & Innovation

• RM Books
• RM Unify
• RM Neon

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Environmental
• Health and Safety

Environmental Achievements

• Reduced emissions per FTE employee from 3.18 tonnes CO2e/employee in 2015 to 2.21 tonnes CO2e/employee in 2016.

Social Achievements

• Continued strong retention levels across annuity offerings with these recurring revenues now over 60% of the portfolio
• Implemented a health and safety management system aiming to continually improve health and safety implementation and meet the requirements of OHSAS 18001.

Governance Achievements

• Complied with the provisions of the UK Corporate Governance Code 2014.

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Continued pressure on school budgets
• Adverse changes in foreign exchange rates following the EU Referendum result
• Tighter budgets in primary schools and the end of curriculum change spend
• Market for specialist curriculum resources declined by 11%
• Demand from schools for low-cost solutions that can cope with a diverse range of technologies
• Purchasing decisions increasingly devolved to schools away from central government and local authorities
• Funding of the Scheme deficit in adverse market conditions.

Mitigation Strategies

• Cost reduction activity undertaken
• Investment in the TTS online channel
• Focus on maintaining sector-leading margins
• Restructuring of the Infrastructure part of the RM Education division
• Focus on winning new RM Integris primary, secondary and Multi-Academy Trust customers and on progressing the RM Unify proposition
• Regular monitoring of policy positions and building relationships with education policy makers
• Focus on areas of education spend which are important to meet customers’ objectives
• Adjusting cost base accordingly where revenues decline
• Maintaining knowledge of current education practice and priorities by maintaining close relationships with customers
• Investing in maintaining a high level of technical expertise
• Implementing internal management control processes to govern the delivery of projects
• Investing in developing its Data Centres and being certified to ISO/IEC 27001:2005
• Implementing a Group Security and Business Continuity Committee
• Implementing a series of back-up and safety measures
• Having property and business interruption insurance cover
• Being an attractive employer and regularly monitoring employee engagement
• Having talent management and career planning programmes
• Monitoring technology and market developments and investing to keep products, services and sales methods up-to-date
• Working with teachers and educators to understand opportunities and requirements
• Maintaining a high level of technical expertise and building effective working relationships with customers
• Having a range of customer satisfaction programmes
• Closing the Scheme to new entrants in 2003 and to future accrual of benefits in October 2012
• Establishing a pension escrow account in 2014
• Evaluating risk mitigation proposals with the Scheme trustee
• Monitoring the level of distributable reserves in RM plc and subsidiary companies and considering their ability to make dividend payments.

Supply Chain Management

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (revised edition)

Certifications: ISO/IEC 27001:2005

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Environmental
• Social
• Governance

Environmental Achievements

• Reduced emissions per FTE employee from 1.98 tonnes CO2e/employee in 2016 to 1.75 tonnes CO2e/employee in 2017.

Social Achievements

• Implemented a health and safety management system aiming to continually improve health and safety implementation and meet the requirements of OHSAS 18001.
• Maintained a commitment to equal employment opportunities.

Governance Achievements

• Compliance with the UK Corporate Governance Code 2016.
• Established a formal ‘whistleblowing’ policy.
• Implemented policies and procedures to ensure transparency and ethical business dealings.

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• Continued pressure on UK school budgets.
• Reduction in TTS UK revenues due to primary schools and nurseries focusing on commodity items because of budget constraints.
• Increased currency volatility creates exposure due to foreign currency denominated costs outweighing foreign currency denominated revenues.

Mitigation Strategies

• Focus on delivering synergies from the acquisition in RM Resources and delivering good operating performance.
• Investment in online channels to increase online sales.
• Currency hedging against exchange rate movements and rebalancing exposure by growing foreign denominated sales.

Supply Chain Management

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard (revised edition)

Certifications: ISO/IEC 27001:2005

Environmental Metrics

ESG Focus Areas

• Environmental
• Social
• Governance

Environmental Achievements

• Reduced emissions in 2020 compared to 2019 by 729 tonnes, a reduction of 30%. This is partly attributable to a 25% reduction in the first half of the year, compared to the same period in the previous year, due to ongoing benefits of building consolidation across the Group. In the second half of the year the reduction compared to the previous year was 40% due to offices being closed due to COVID-19.
• RM Resources’ new HQ and distribution centre built at Harrier Park has been assessed as “very good” by BREEAM standards and is built with heat retention glass, rain-water harvesting, PIR LED lighting and electric vehicle recharging.

Social Achievements

• Met the target of having at least 30% of senior positions held by females.
• Rolled out unconscious bias training to all recruiting managers.
• Made key remote learning products available for free during the COVID-19 lockdown and subsequent school closures and raising funds for educational charities that are chosen by the staff in each division.
• In India, the RM ESI Foundation supported 49 students through the foundation.

Governance Achievements

• Updated Terms of Reference of the three Board Committees to reflect the new provisions of the Code.
• Implemented a health and safety management system which aims to continually improve health and safety implementation and is designed to meet the requirements of ISO 45001.
• Adopted a formal ‘whistleblowing’ policy.
• Implemented policies and procedures to ensure that it is transparent and ethical in all business dealings, including an anti-corruption and anti-bribery policy.

Climate Goals & Targets

Environmental Challenges

• COVID-19 pandemic materially impacted revenue and profit, particularly in RM Resources and RM Results due to school closures and exam cancellations.
• Supply chain disruptions due to COVID-19.
• Restrictions on international travel impacting new contract negotiations.
• Changes in political administration or policy priorities might result in major changes to the exam system or a reduction in education spending.
• UK government funding in the education sector is constrained by fiscal policy.
• Global economic conditions might result in a reduction in budgets available for public spending generally and education spending specifically.
• Education and assessment practices and priorities may change.
• Adverse change in the economic and/or fiscal environment as a result of the UK’s exit from the EU.
• Rapid and unpredictable change in the IT market and elements of the education resources market.
• Dependence on key contracts.
• Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on customers, pricing pressures and service delivery pressures from delays to exams.

Mitigation Strategies

• Implemented cost-saving initiatives across all three divisions.
• Temporarily reduced salaries for Board, Executive team, and senior leaders.
• Cancelled dividend and deferred capital programmes to conserve cash.
• Used government job retention scheme cautiously and repaid receipts.
• Stopped permanent staff recruitment and reduced temporary staffing and discretionary spend.
• Established innovation teams to assess COVID-19 impact and engage customers.
• Restarted capital programmes and reviewed Target Operating Model and working practices.
• Regular monitoring of education policy positions and building relationships with education policy makers.
• Focus on areas of education spend important to meet customers’ objectives.
• Adjusting cost base where revenue is in decline.
• Maintaining close relationships with customers to understand current education practice and priorities.
• Adapting processes to support the Brexit deal and monitoring developments.
• Evolving product and service offering to meet customers’ developing requirements.
• Investing in maintaining a high level of technical expertise and building effective working relationships with customers.
• Implementing customer satisfaction programmes to address causes of dissatisfaction.
• Managing relationships with customers and suppliers to avoid bad debts and manage cost increases.
• Working closely with customers after exam cancellations.

Supply Chain Management

Responsible Procurement

• Reviews and audits of suppliers to help ensure they are not involved in modern slavery.

Climate-Related Risks & Opportunities

Reporting Standards

Frameworks Used: GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard

Certifications: ISO 45001