Our group policy on purchasing and supply management, revised in December 2007, now requires all Aviva suppliers to sign the Aviva Supplier Code of Conduct, either upon appointment or contract renewal. The Code has been used to cover in excess of £1.1 billion of procurement activity during 2007.

Our top 200 suppliers are being assessed against a series of questions designed to measure their commitment to CSR, and each Aviva business must establish a CSR performance improvement plan for its top five suppliers. All sourcing decisions must now give CSR aspects a minimum 10% weighting, while human rights questions also form part of our supplier review and tender process.

To raise the profile of CSR in our sector and help to develop industry standards and common approaches, Aviva plays a leading role in the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply’s Financial Services Purchasing Forum (FSPF), with David Allcock of Aviva UK Procurement as the current vice chair. The FSPF hosts a CSR sub-group, also chaired by David, which has grown from four to 30 major financial services organisations in 18 months. The aim of the group is to drive a standard approach to the management of CSR issues in the financial services sector.

Case study

Stationary stationery

First 2 Office, Aviva’s stationery supplier, challenged eight Master’s students at London’s Royal College of Art to create sculptures from unwanted stationery donated by customers including Aviva. In just two days, 84 pallets of unwanted supplies were collected, of which 62 were recycled, 11 were donated to charity and 11 were turned into sculpture for The Office Stationery Amnesty Arts Award. As part of the London Sustainability Festival, Aviva exhibited the winning pieces in the Aviva’s global headquarters main reception.