1. Welcome
food newsletter
december 2016 issue
Welcome to our latest bumper Plan A Food Newsletter, which features a roundup of our activities
over the last few months and important updates for suppliers, including progress on Silver and
Beyond, Movement to Work, new attributes, raw materials and more.
As Christmas production is in full flow, the Plan A
team are focusing on plans for 2017, when we will mark
10 years of Plan A. We are taking this moment to revisit
our strategy and think about how we will step up our
thinking and whole supply chain implementation from
field to fork, to create a truly sustainable retailer for
2025. We will be in touch again in the New Year on
how you can be involved in developing our thinking.
The Foods Plan A team is also changing. We say goodbye
to Jo Bowen who is off on maternity leave and welcome
Amanda Curtis, Senior Foods Plan A Environment Manager.
Amanda brings 16 years of environmental experience
to the Food group from Coca Cola, London 2012 as
well as a range of different clients as a sustainability
consultant. Also joining the team are Caroline Hughes,
Ethical Scorecard Validator, and Helena Bayly, Foods
Plan A Project Manager. Caroline has already joined
a number of validation visits utilizing her consulting
background, and Helena has recently graduated from
a MA in Leadership for Sustainable Development at
Forum for the Future. Finally Hazel and Helen have
both been promoted to senior managers reflecting
their ongoing fantastic contribution.
Included in this issue is a thank you to those who
attended our Movement to Work supplier engagement
event and a call for our suppliers to make a pledge on
the number of placements they plan to deliver in the
next 12 months.
In our continued efforts towards achieving our target
of having all sites reach Silver by 2020, we have
introduced a new validation process for the Silver
programme and have developed an alternative
programme for smaller suppliers.
Eight new attributes have also been signed off in
the past month, including seven as part of our new
packaging strategy.
You can also read about our work in raw materials,
with a focus on cocoa, palm oil, sugar and rice.
We have recently released a publication with WWF
on water stewardship, to share our learnings with
other businesses.
The M&S Food team at our Paddington HQ has also
been busy promoting Plan A values. 200 volunteers
signed up to ‘Spark Something Good’ in the local
community, helping at 15 projects with the aim of
connecting communities through valuing food, health
and nature.
We hope you find these updates useful and interesting.
Please do contact us with any feedback, as we are
always looking to improve our communications.
From all the team, we wish you a very merry Christmas
and hope that you enjoy the festive period.
Louise Nicholls,
Head of Responsible Sourcing, Packaging and Plan A

2. Contents
Update on Silver & Beyond
Silver sites 1
New validation process 1
Revalidation key findings 1
Silver equivalent for smaller suppliers 2
Upcoming events 2
environmental/ethical updates
Movement to Work supplier engagement event 3
New environmental minimum standards 3
ethical updates
Wellbeing Week 4
BHRRC latest reports on Modern Slavery statements 4
September & October Supplier Exchanges
Environmental 5
Ethical 5
Lean 6
Attribute update
New packaging strategy 7
New attributes 7
Attributes update 8
Raw Materials
Raw material sourcing 9
Palm oil 9
Cocoa visit to the Ivory Coast 10
news
Water stewardship 11
Food waste 11
Spark Something Good Paddington 12
Which actions apply to you?
Action Page R
Movement to Work supplier pledges 3
Silver equivalent for smaller suppliers 2
Take part in Wellbeing Week 2017 4
Save the date: upcoming supplier exchanges 2
New environmental minimum standards 3
Eight new attributes available 7
Call for sustainability information on rice and sugar 9
RSPO palm oil data 9
Sourcing cocoa 10

3. silver & beyond
1
Silver
sites
New validation process
Since April, the following sites have
achieved Silver on the How We Do
Business Sustainability Scorecard*:
Samworth Brothers Saladworks
Gs Barway
Finnebrogue
Samworth Brothers Tamar
Dawnfresh Arbroath
New Ivory
Bakkavor Bourne Salads
Thorntons
Barfoots of Botley
Tulip Kings Lynn
Tulip Ruskington
Princes Manchester
Princes Erith
Princes Belvedere
Adnams
Addo Foods Riverside Bakery
*Correct as of 22nd November
From April, we introduced a new validation process for
the Sustainability Scorecard to help us achieve our goal
of all direct supplying sites meeting Silver level on the
sustainability frameworks by 2020.
In order to accelerate the Silver
programme, the new process involves
a phone validation and evidence
uploaded to the Credit360 scorecard
database, in place of a validation visit
for the environmental and lean
elements of the scorecard. The ethical
framework will still require
a visit in the vast majority of cases.
However, as part of our due diligence,
15% of sites will also be chosen for
a full validation visit covering all
3 frameworks (in addition to a call).
N.B. All Sites looking to achieve Gold
validation will still receive a full visit,
as per the current process.
Feedback on the new process so far
has been positive with most sites
passing their environmental & lean
frameworks on the calls with no need
for a further follow up. Of the sites
that have been chosen for a visit as
part of our due diligence, all have
achieved the same result on the visit
as they did on the call, which has
demonstrated that the new process
appears to be working well.
Are you working towards Silver
next year?
In terms of future validations for
those sites who are not yet Silver,
we are continuing to move down our
pipeline of suppliers. If you are due
to be validated between April 2017
and March 2018 you should have
been recently contacted by SA
Partners to begin the process. If not,
do let us know.
Congratulations to all those sites,
who have been the first to go
through the new validation process
(details of this are below).
Revalidation of Silver sites
To ensure that our silver factory
programme maintains its
credibility, and to encourage
suppliers to ‘Go for Gold’
(rather than settle for silver
or drop back to bronze), it’s
important to ensure that
suppliers are continuously
improving following their
Silver validation.
We want to ensure that sites are
consolidating & sustaining Silver, and
understand what the sites’ plans and
timelines are for achieving Gold.
In order to establish the above, we
launched an annual ‘Silver revalidation’
survey back in June that consisted of
12 questions to be answered in a
presentation format. Each site was
asked to submit a presentation which
outlined their activity and progress
since Silver validation, along with key
business benefits seen since Silver and
some key metrics, facts and quotes
(from site MD’s and M&S category
teams) to support their submission.
Finally, we asked for a roadmap to
achieving Gold validation.
Based on the evidence provided in the
presentations from each site, the Plan
A validation team identified 6 strong
performers and 7 weak performers,
with all other sites demonstrating a
satisfactory performance.
The main findings from the process
were as follows:
Strong Performers:
It was clear from their presentations
that these sites had taken on board all
the feedback provided by the
validators at their Silver validation, and
continued to progress. They had also
been able to identify clear business
benefits to achieving Silver, and had
a clear plan to get to Gold.
Satisfactory Performers:
These sites were all able to
demonstrate that they have
maintained Silver level since their
validation. However, as they are some
of our leading sites on sustainability,
we would expect them to make further
progress within the next 12 months
and develop a plan to get to Gold
where possible.
Weak Performers:
The validators were disappointed that
these site’s performances didn’t appear
to have progressed as expected. This
finding is based on the self-declared
information that was provided in the
presentations. It wasn’t clear whether
the site had taken on board all the
feedback provided by the validators
during the initial silver validation, and
there appeared to be little demonstration
of activity which went ‘above and
beyond’ the Silver requirements that
were seen at the validation. In some
cases, sites were also marked down as
they hadn’t completed a staff survey
since their silver validation – having an
annual (or at least bi-annual) survey
is a silver requirement. Sites were
requested to come back to us within
a month with either further evidence
that may have been missing from the
initial presentation or a roadmap of
how they are going to meet the areas
of under-performance.
Top Performers:
CONGRATULATIONS to the
six top performers:
Bakkavor Caledonian
Dawnfresh Seafoods Uddingston
Kettle Produce Balmalcolm
Kinnerton Confectionery Fakenham
Tulip Bodmin
Worldwide Fruit

4. silver & beyond
2
Silver equivalent for
smaller suppliers
Upcoming events
Our preference is for all M&S direct suppliers
to achieve Silver level on the Sustainability
Scorecard and we encourage all sites to work
towards this by 2020 wherever possible.
However we are aware that in reality it may be difficult for
some sites to meet this level at the current time, as the site
may not currently have the resource & capability to fully
embed all elements of sustainability into its business.
However, we still want sites to be able to demonstrate
evidence of where they are focusing on one or two areas
of sustainability, based on their risk.
What does this ‘sustainability stepping stone’ approach
look like?
Suppliers who can’t currently achieve Silver overall can still
demonstrate their sustainability credentials and gain a Plan A
attribute by achieving one of the following individual
attributes, dependent on where their risk is:
i) Ethical Excellence – demonstrating that the site meets all
the key elements of a ‘great place to work’, including
worker engagement, communications and representations,
strong management systems around working hours and
pay, an excellent approach to health and safety, a
proactive role in the community, and strong controls
around use of agency labour and modern slavery risk.
AND/OR
ii) Environmental Excellence – demonstrating that the
site has improved the efficiency & sustainability of its
resources, including having an appropriate environmental
management system, climate mitigation plans, targets and
actions around water, waste, energy & carbon, sustainable
procurement plans for key raw materials, and good worker
engagement at all levels.
(N.B. A number of industry-specific schemes equivalent
to this attribute have already been approved. Products
from sites that have achieved one of these standards are
already eligible for an attribute: LEAF Marque, SAI FSA
Silver Level 2.0, M&S approved Sustainable Wine Schemes,
MPS-A Standard, AISE Charter).
Who might be eligible for this approach?
Sites that may not be able to achieve Silver across all
3 frameworks include those that:
• Supply less than 2% of their annual volume to M&S
• Have less than 50 employees
• Are co-packers for larger, M&S direct-supplying sites
N.B. Even if a site meets these criteria, this does not preclude
them from adopting higher standards and aiming for Silver
level.
Who will determine whether a site can adopt alternative
controls as a substitute for Silver?
The decision will be made jointly by the Plan A team and
the M&S category team, in consultation with the supplying
site. As noted previously, our preference is for all sites to
aim to meet Silver level on the sustainability scorecard
wherever possible.
If a site does not meet the above criteria but has agreement
from their M&S category team that they can adopts this
approach, then this will also be satisfactory, although a clear
plan will be required as to how the full scorecard can be achieved.
Next steps:
We are currently trialling this approach with some of our
suppliers who meet the criteria, to determine whether this
approach will work for them. Once the trial is completed,
a full update will be provided to all suppliers.
MARION REGAN, OUR FRUIT
FARMER FROM KENT PICKS
STRAWBERRIES AT SUNRISE AND
DELIVERS THEM TO STORE WITHIN
24 HOURS ENSURING MAXIMUM
FRESHNESS AND QUALITY
love
local
love
local
FOO/P7/970401A
33420_FOO_970401_500x200.indd 1 02/11/2016 17:18
Environmental Supplier Exchange 1st Feb 2017
Ethical Supplier Exchange 7th Feb 2017
Lean Supplier Exchange 14th Feb 2017

5. ethical/environmental updates
3
We want to sell products that are
minimising their impact on the
environment which means not
polluting the land, air or water, not
damaging ecosystems, not sending
waste to landfill, using energy & water
more efficiently and sourcing raw
materials sustainably.
We recognise that a significant part of
our environmental impact occurs
within our supply chain and therefore
want to work with our suppliers to
ensure we minimise this impact
wherever possible. As most of you will
know, we currently have a supplier
sustainability scorecard programme in
place (Silver & Beyond) which helps
suppliers work towards becoming a
more sustainable business. However,
until now we haven’t had any minimum
standards regarding the environment.
Therefore, from 2017 all direct suppliers
MUST meet the new minimum
requirements on environment in order
for a supplier to do business with us.
Environmental concerns are becoming
even greater and by setting new
minimum requirements for our supply
base, we are minimising our risk,
ensuring we have security of supply
for the future and enhancing our
reputation as a leading retailer in
sustainability.
The new standard will consist of a
number of requirements relating to
the environment. Sites will be given an
initial 6 months to comply, and will be
expected to complete and sign the
form annually on-going.
The requirements include:
1 Suppliers MUST comply with all
relevant local, national &
international laws and regulations
with respect to the environment.
2 Any incidence of prosecutions or
justified notice that could lead to
prosecution MUST be reported
immediately to M&S.
3 Suppliers MUST have identified a
suitable senior member of staff
as having accountability for
environmental management on site.
4 Suppliers MUST have an up-to–date
Environmental Policy in place.
5 Suppliers MUST have an audited
environmental management system
in place.
6 The Supplier should be able to show
they have assessed the resilience of
their business to the potential
impacts of climate change.
7 Suppliers should have an adequate
system in place for carrying out
a supply chain sustainability risk
assessment.
8 Suppliers MUST meet all relevant
M&S Raw Material Sourcing
Requirements relating to
sustainability.
9 Suppliers should be measuring
their water & energy usage, and
their waste & carbon generated.
10 All suppliers MUST work towards
attaining a Plan A attribute for
every product.
11 All direct suppliers are expected
to work towards achieving the full
Silver level (or equivalent) on the
sustainability scorecard.
Full details of these requirements will
be made available shortly, with the
form being added to Connect in 2017.
For further details please do not
hesitate to contact the Plan A
Foods Team.
Environmental standards for food suppliers –
NEW REQUIREMENT FOR 2017
Marks & Spencer Food Group recognises our responsibility to minimise our direct and indirect
impact upon the environment, and operate in a responsible and sustainable way for the benefit
of our customers, employees and other stakeholders.
In keeping with M&S’ on-going
commitment to the Movement to Work
programme, at the beginning of
November the Plan A team invited
senior members of HR teams from M&S’
major suppliers to attend a half-day
engagement session here in Paddington.
Movement to Work is a voluntary
collaboration of leading UK employers
who are committed to helping young
people aged 18 to 24 who are not in
education, employment or training (NEETs)
move closer to employment by providing
quality work experience and learning
opportunities. The purpose of the session
was to re-engage with suppliers on
Movement to Work and to hear from
speakers who could offer support in
overcoming the challenges associated
with the delivery of the scheme.
The event, hosted by Andy Adcock,
Louise Nicholls and Helen McTaggart,
saw a great turn out from suppliers.
Speakers included Movement to Work,
Job Centre Plus, Talent Match and Ingeus
who provided an external perspective
on ways that suppliers can further
commit to the programme. In addition,
2 Sisters Food Group, G’s Fresh and
Kettle Produce presented case studies
on the work their businesses have done,
how they have sustained activity and
how they have adapted to challenges
regarding Movement to Work. A range
of ideas were shared on the day including
how to increase engagement with young
people through social media and the
local community network, the possibility
of providing free transport to work
and the role of teaming up those on a
placement with a mentor in the company.
A big thank you to all those that
attended and spoke on the day – the
event was a real success and we hope
that suppliers can use the material
discussed to really maximise the number
of Movement to Work placements that
they can offer in 2017. We have produced
a case study booklet containing examples
of best practice on Movement to Work
from a range of suppliers which we are
distributing as part of a call to action to
renew efforts. Whilst we are particularly
looking at our strategic suppliers, we
want all suppliers to contribute to the
Movement to Work effort and the Plan
A team will be requesting suppliers to
pledge how many placements they
plan to deliver in the next 12 months.
Please contact helen.mctaggart@
marksandspencer.com if you have any
questions related to Movement to Work.
Movement to Work
Supplier Engagement Event

6. ethical updates
4
We have a fantastic toolkit available for
suppliers to use. This was co-developed
with suppliers and is full of great ideas
to make your Wellbeing campaign
a success!
The idea of Wellbeing Week is to run a
focussed campaign on your site raising
awareness on important physical,
mental and financial health issues. In
previous years as many as 60 UK sites
have signed up, representing over
20,000 workers.
Sites have found that the more
interactive the events, the better.
Successful activities have included
healthy eating days in the canteen,
inviting local health charities to hold
a stand in a communal area, group
walks, and involving local gyms.
This year we are proposing that sites
run Wellbeing Week in the first three
months of the year, Jan-March. Please
let us know if you want to receive more
information and inspiration on
Wellbeing Week, as well as if you are
going to run a campaign. Please email
foods.plan@marksandspencer.com
In the meantime you can access our
fantastic toolkit here.
Join in with
Wellbeing Week 2017
BHRRC latest reports on
Modern Slavery Statements
As in previous years, we are once again encouraging supplier
sites to get involved in running a Wellbeing Week in early 2017!
Suppliers should all be familiar
with the requirement of the Modern
Slavery Act that companies with
a turnover over £36m publish an
annual modern slavery statement
on their website.
M&S’ Modern Slavery statement went
live in June and you can find it here.
The Business and Human Rights
Resource Centre (BHRRC) recently
published a review of statements
published to date, and we were
delighted that M&S’ statement was
ranked one of the highest. Suppliers
completing Modern Slavery
statements should review the BHRRC
report, as well as the Ergon report on
Modern Slavery statements.
May 2016 | Reporti
ng on Modern
Slavery:
The current
state of disclosu
re | 1
Reporting on Modern Slavery
The current state of disclosure - May 2016
The UK’s Modern
Slavery Act 2015 includes
an
innovativ
e transpar
ency and reportin
g clause
(section
54 - Transpar
ency in Supply Chains)
requiring
larger organisa
tions to make an annual
‘slavery
and human trafickin
g statemen
t’ setting
out what they do to ‘ensure
that slavery and
human trafickin
g is not taking place in any of its
supply chains, and in any part of its own business
’.
This report analyses
all the Modern
Slavery
statemen
ts we could ind that have been publishe
d
up to late-Apr
il 2016. It extends
our irst analysis,
produce
d in March 2016, which looked at the
irst 100 early statemen
ts.This updated
edition
analyses
a further 139 statemen
ts, making 239
statemen
ts in total in our sample.
We have looked at these reports
in terms of
the key statutor
y obligatio
ns as well as guidance
on content
produce
d by the Governm
ent.
Periodic
ally through
2016, Ergon will continue
to update our analysis
and publish subsequ
ent
reports
as more compani
es produce
statemen
ts.
• This is the second edition of our analysis
of ‘Modern Slavery
stateme
nts’ produce
d by commercial organisa
tions in accordance
with the UK’s Modern
Slavery Act 2015. It builds on our irst report
publishe
d in March 2016.
• We have recorde
d and analysed
more than 230 stateme
nts in our
database.The vast majority are voluntary stateme
nts produce
d ahead
of the statutor
y requirements.• With some notable
exceptions most stateme
nts do not go further
than general
commitments and broad indicatio
ns of processes.
• For example
, 35% of statements say nothing
on the question
of their
risk assessment processes, which is surprising for statements that are
intended to be based around a due diligence approach. Two-thirds do
not identify priority
risks, whether in terms of countrie
s, supply chains
or business
areas.
• The best-covered issues are organisa
tional structur
es and policies
covering Modern
Slavery, and the least well-described
issue relates to
key perform
ance indicato
rs used to assess effective
ness.
• The current
basic level of detail contrasts with the expectations of
civil society organisa
tions and governm
ent. If stateme
nts do not start
to cover processes, risks and actions in more detail, we may well start
to see critical comment.• Among business
relationships, supply chains are covered
in most detail
but contractor relationships remain a key gap, especially since agency
workers
and outsourced services
may pose signiicant risks.
• We have observe
d very similar wording
in some stateme
nts from
otherwise unrelate
d companies, which may point to the use of
template or model stateme
nts.• Five sectors
account
for half of reports.These are: professional
service providers, manufac
turers, retailers, IT irms, and food
supplier
s.
• The bulk of reportin
g companies (69%) are from the UK, North
America (14%) or Europe (9%). But we are starting
to see more
reports
(9%) from companies based elsewhe
re, including Japan and
India.
ABOUT THIS REPORT
KEY POINTS
FURTHER INFORMATIONFor further informat
ion on Ergon
Associat
es and the services
we
provide
in relation
to understa
nding
and respond
ing to human rights and
Modern
Slavery issues, and subsequ
ent
reportin
g and analysis,
contact:
Steve Gibbons
+44 20 7713 0386
steve.gi
bbons@
ergonas
sociates
.net
www.er
gonasso
ciates.n
et
To receive future updates
to this report,
please sign up here.

7. 5
supplier exchanges
Carnstone then updated the group on
a piece of work to identify the business
benefits of achieving silver. They
reviewed the KPI data and identified
a clear correlation between suppliers’
scores on the framework and their
efficiency across the areas of water,
waste & energy, and are now working
on some case studies to identify
the overall business benefits of
achieving silver. The final report will
be available shortly.
Waterscan then updated the group on
the changes they should expect when
the water market opens in England in
April 2017. Although savings are likely
to be quite small at first, it’s important
sites know their retailer so they can
start to make a decision as to whether
to stick with them or look for a new
one. A good independent website for
all water market changes & retailer
options is www.Open-Water.org.uk
Hazel Culley from M&S then spoke to
the group about what M&S have been
doing over the last 12 months on raw
materials & water, and gave the group
some advice on how to start the risk
assessment process on key raw materials.
In terms of water stewardship, we have
published a new report with WWF which
highlights the benefits of adopting a
water stewardship approach to mitigate
water risk. You can access the report here.
There was an update from WRAP on
their waste valorisation programme
and how suppliers can get involved in
identifying new opportunities to reuse
their waste or surplus food.
In terms of energy, The Crowd have
developed a new database called
The Curve which showcases over 600
energy saving projects worldwide to
allow companies to learn from each
other’s projects. The website is free
to use and seemed to go down very
well with the supplier exchange group.
You can access the database here.
The final presentation was about the
new build at Finnebrogue, which
highlighted the process they went
through and focused on some of the
environmental benefits / thinking
behind elements of the build.
N.B. Jo will be going on maternity
leave from 22nd December and will
be replaced by Amanda Curtis, who
brings 16 years’ worth of environmental
management experience from
Coca Cola and London 2012.
Welcome to Amanda.
The October exchange focused on a number of key elements of
the framework, including water, energy & raw materials. At the
start of the day, Jo Bowen updated the group on the half year
attribute numbers (74%) and where we are with Silver factories
(66 Silver and 4 Gold in total as of end October).
This included G’s on their
community engagement initiative
Open Farm Sunday, Dawnfresh on
their Youth Employment strategy,
Dairy Crest on their employability
work, Bakkavor Bourne on investing
in English language training and
Finnebrogue on how a great
physical environment can contribute
to a great place to work. Thank you
to all the supplier speakers.
In addition, Helen McTaggart from M&S
spoke on ethical learnings from the
recent revalidation process, and Neil
and Lydia from Carnstone gave initial
findings from work undertaking on the
ethical KPIs – we will be in touch with
suppliers on more detail on this shortly.
There was also a discussion on the M&S
inclusion strategy, with Claire Maydew
from the M&S HR team and a discussion
on promoting gender equality.
Due to the detailed focus on aspects
of the ethical framework, and the
number of supplier case studies we
strongly recommend suppliers who
were not at the Ethical Exchange take
the time to review the presentation
deck, which is available on the
Ethical Exchange.
The Ethical Exchange group met in September with a focus on
best practice around the ethical framework and presentations
from a number of suppliers.
Environmental
Supplier Exchange
summary
Ethical Supplier
Exchange summary

8. supplier exchanges
6
Over 40 representatives from M&S supplier
companies gathered for the Lean Exchange
event focused on process management and
problem solving, with presentations from
speakers and engaging group activities.
Jo Bowen started by reminded the audience of the key Plan
A target to have 100% of products with at least one attribute
by 2020. In 16/17 we are currently at 74% with a target this
year of 80%. There is also a key target to have 100% of site to
silver by 2020. Silver validation is a great way for suppliers to
gain attributes, since silver validation means that all products
from that site automatically achieve an attribute. So far, over
70 sites have been validated at silver or gold.
Process Management
Jeff Williams, Partner and Food Sector Head at SA Partners,
spoke to the audience about what it means to use process
management as a strategic tool. He began with a set of
propositions based on what he typically finds when visiting
food companies. He then presented a simple but effective
approach for putting the value of process management
across to the senior management team.
Silver Validation and Revalidation
Donna Samuel, Silver Validation Project Manager at SA
Partners, presented a series of insights, hints and tips from
her experience after six months of both project managing
the silver pipeline on behalf of M&S and also as the lean
validator under the new validation system. She also talked
through outcomes of the recent re-validation exercise and
led a workshop comparing what delegates thought was
required for validation compared to what was actually required.
Problem Solving
Richard Lynch, Partners and Retail Sector Head at SA
Partners, explained that CI specialists should be looking for
people to talk about their improvement system in the same
way that they do about their production lines: how many
people, how many units does it produce etc. He then went
on to talk about problem solving in the context of an
improvement journey. He highlighted our tendency to batch
and queue improvement projects and suggested that single
piece flow might be a more effective approach.
The next Lean Supplier Exchange has been scheduled
for 14th February 2017.
Jeff Williams Donna Samuel Richard Lynch
Lean Supplier
Exchange summary

9. attribute update
All Fresh Produce suppliers who went to the M&S Fresh Conference in October would have heard
the dates that have been announced for the grower Plan A attribute roll out.
Here they are again:
• SAI FSA module available in Sedex, with Sedex Core SAQ
pre-population feature, for all to use at the beginning
of January.
• Suppliers to send confirmation to MS on their growers
and chosen attributes (LEAF Marque / SAI FSA Silver /
Organic / Fairtrade / other proposed attribute) by
1st February 2017. Please complete this information
in the tracker which will be up on Connect in the first
week of January. We will notify you when this
document is online.
• By 1st May 2017 all growers must be on Sedex with a
completed core self-assessment, SAI FSA grower groups
must have completed the FSA self-assessment module
and LEAF Marque growers must indicate they are working
with LEAF in Sedex core questionnaire.
Watch out for the Produce Attribute implementation
pack which was sent out to all Produce suppliers
with more information and guidance. If your
organisation hasn’t received this pack please email
Emmanuelle.Hopkinson@marks-and-spencer.com
Plan A Attributes for
Fresh Produce Growers:
Implementation Dates Announced!
Packaging Strategy to be launched:
7 New Attributes
MS is soon to launch a new packaging strategy to
ensure we are using the most sustainable packaging
possible that is fit for purpose.
The strategy is built on three key objectives:
1 To maximise resource efficiency, by using
the healthiest materials.
2 To protect the customer and the brand,
by using the optimum packaging.
3 To ensure security of supply, by using
a healthy supply base.
As part of the strategy, and to help us
achieve our objectives, seven new
attributes have been established. These
will be implemented in the New Year, but
see page 8 for a preview of what’s to
come. Look out for more information in
early 2017. If you have any questions or
would like to know more, please email
Helena.Bayly@marks-and-spencer.com
7

10. Attributes update
attribute update
We have continued to make progress on volumes of product sold
with a Plan A attribute, with 74% of all products having at least
1 attribute at the half year.
Our target for the year is 80% so there is still some work to be done. Some of this
will come through our Silver factory programme (see page 1 for more details), with
the rest coming from key new/amended attributes, especially on packaging where
a new packaging strategy has been launched (see page 7).
A list of those recently approved by the Food Attribute Board is below and any that are
relevant can be associated to your products on FIND (once approval has been sought):
Attribute Details Utilisation
Shelf Life Extension
(leading to food waste
reduction)
A change in packaging that means increased
product life either in store or for the
customer and therefore less waste
generated overall.
+1 day on chilled products and as agreed
with packaging team on ambient products.
Needs to be approved by the packaging team.
Minimum 10% packaging
reduction
At least a 10% reduction in the overall
packaging, without affecting the quality
and life of the product.
Reduction must be approved by the packaging
team but can include total primary secondary
packaging weight. Needs to be approved by the
packaging team.
Compostable packaging
Packaging that can be added to the home
compost bin by the customer.
Only relevant for film (as there is no other disposal
method for standard films at present). Needs to
be approved by the packaging team.
Silver Pack Mark
A silver sustainability framework for our
packaging suppliers.
Will be available for all packaging converters/
manufacturers (more details available in 2017).
% recycled content
An element of the packaging material will
come from recycled content.
The % of recycled content will vary by material type
– needs to be approved by the packaging team.
% recycled content from
a social source
An element of the packaging material will
come from recovered materials such as
ocean plastic.
The materials must be sourced locally and
the attribute needs to be approved by the
packaging team.
All components widely recycled
All component parts of a finished product
are widely recycled compared to current
state (e.g. film, tray sleeve).
Can be used on products where all primary
packaging components can now carry the ‘widely
recycled’ message. Needs to be approved by the
packaging team.
Proterra sustainable soy
This sustainable soy attribute focuses on
animal feed, where the vast majority of our
soy impact lies. It addresses important
hotspot areas of large-scale soy production.
Any protein products where a sustainable soy
source certified to Proterra standards is used
in the animal feed at farm level.
OUR EASY PEELERS ARE
GROWN ESPECIALLY
FOR MARKS SPENCER
TO BE SEEDLESS BY
SUSTAINABLE GROWERS
seedless and
sustainable
seedless and
sustainable
FOO/P7/970400
33420_FOO_970400_500x200.indd 1 01/11/2016 17:14
8

11. Raw material
sustainability
Whilst MS continues to
strengthen and cascade our
work on the sustainability
of key raw materials from
cocoa to soya, it’s important
to also look ahead and
identify other commodities
we source which pose
significant environmental
and social risk.
Last year we embarked on our journey
to sourcing more sustainable nuts and
we are currently beginning to look at
rice and sugar: two important raw
materials which are associated with
a range of challenges from labour
standards to water scarcity and GHG
emissions from production.
We would like to hear from any
suppliers who have started to look
at rice or sugar with a sustainability
lens, whether that be risk assessments,
projects or implementing standards.
If you’re working on raw material
sustainability and have insight
to share, please contact
Hazel.Culley@marks-and-spencer.com
9
raw materials
Palm oil update
It’s the time of year where we are starting on our annual
data collection with SEC to understand your palm oil use
and to check it meets the MS requirement of sourcing
RSPO palm oil.
• All suppliers were contacted by SEC on 26th November. If you have not
received this, please email PlanAFood@strategic-environmental.co.uk
copying hazel.culley@marksandspencer.com
• Deadline for completion of return: 20th January 2017
We are currently working on updating our palm oil policy and this should be
released in January 2017.
PlanA
DOING THE
RIGHT THING
We think destroying rainforests for palm
oil is too high a price to pay for a biscuit.
Palm oil production can result in vast swathes of rainforest being cleared,
which can have a dramatic impact on the environment. We’re now
encouraging sustainable production through the purchase of GreenPalm
certificates for all the palm oil we use in MS products, even our biscuits.
Quality worth every penny

12. Cocoa
Sourcing Visit
Richard Nash Hazel Culley visited the Ivory Coast at the end
of October 2016 to meet with a number of cocoa growers and
attend the World Cocoa Foundation Conference.
This was a fascinating visit which showed the significant challenges in the cocoa
industry – farmers are struggling to make a living with decreasing yields, there is
a real risk of deforestation in the Ivory Coast (currently home to the remaining
25% of the world’s rainforest but disappearing at a rate of 27,000 ha a year) and
real issues around women’s economic empowerment – less than 0.03% of COOP
leaders are women.
The challenges are well known and both large cocoa traders and brands have
ambitious plans to improve the sustainability of the industry and, most importantly,
significantly improve farmer livelihoods. Much of this is under the guise of
Cocoa Action run by the World Cocoa Foundation.
MS has prioritised cocoa as a key raw material and in 2013 joined both the World
Cocoa Foundation and the International Cocoa Initiative to help support industry
efforts on cocoa. We also have a commitment that all MS cocoa will be purchased
from verified sustainable sources by April 2017. This is defined as cocoa from UTZ,
Cocoa Horizons or Fairtrade.
All cocoa users have received a briefing on this and should be in communication
with category teams to show how you will reach this by the date if you have not
already done this. If you have not received this briefing or have any questions
please contact Hazel.Culley@marksandspencer.com
raw materials
Farmer Meeting
Meeting with women’s income
diversification project at
Cann FT COOP
10
WCF Conference – Representing MS
Traceability Discussion –
Yamoussoukro Area

13. news
11
Water stewardshiP
Water scarcity and sustainable water resource management continues to rise up the corporate
agenda because of the risks they pose to business operations and supply chains.
Demand for water is set to outstrip supply by 40% in just
15 years time (United Nations, 2015). If climate change is
the wolf, then water is its teeth. MS sources from over 70
countries and most are experiencing water challenges: be it
too much, too little or not the right quality. Every business
needs to have water stewardship on their agenda. It’s not just
an environmental risk but a social and
economic imperative.
MS and WWF have been working together
for the last nine years on developing our
approach to water and in particular our
approach to water stewardship. After
completing an analysis which showed
that 90% of MS water use is within our
supply chain we then used the WWF
Water Risk Filter to understand where
the exact risk lies. From our most
recent analysis of our food suppliers,
we estimate that one in eight are in
the highest water risk category. Some
of these products, worth millions of
pounds to the business each year, are entirely grown in
areas of high water stress. One option would be to move
supply elsewhere, to areas of lesser water stress. However,
MS believes the responsible approach, and the approach
that the company is taking, is to continue working with
suppliers, using the stewardship approach to reduce risk
and scale up the impact action.
To cement the MS and WWF relationship we have launched
our third joint publication, this time sharing our experiences
to help guide other businesses on how to embed water
stewardship within their supply chains. To help launch the
publication MS and WWF jointly surveyed leading global
retailers and brands and also hosted a round table event with
key retailers and brands to understand their perspective on
water and water risks. Amongst the key findings:
Water risks are rising up the corporate agenda or
remain high priority for all of those surveyed and
it’s clear there is high awareness of water and also
lots of activity happening including mapping of
supply chains and supplier engagement. However,
those surveyed do see some real challenges in
addressing water risks including lack of senior buy in,
the difficulty of mapping the supply chain, lack of
supplier awareness of water risks and most importantly
the challenge of moving from a water efficiency
approach to a water stewardship approach.
At MS we echo the experiences being cited by other
business grappling with the challenge of water and water
stewardship which is why we have worked with WWF to
produce this new publication. This booklet shares some of
the lessons that we have learnt and some specific examples
of how we have applied water stewardship in our operations.
We are now looking at how we work with other organisations
on collective action. We will also be running supply base
training in 2017.
MS Food
Redistribution
Programme
MS Food Redistribution
programme continues
to thrive with all main
stores now active on the
Neighbourly platform
and distributing food to
604 charities.
Since our partnership with Neighbourly
started, more than 660,000 meals have
been provided, distributing 540 tonnes
of surplus food. At the moment the scheme is able to
distribute fruit, veg, bakery items, grocery flowers, but we
have ambitious plans to see how we can include more fresh
products in the roll out. We know that the food is making
a real difference for the charities involved, including Hits Food
Bank in Torbay, which commented,
“Marks Spencer at the Willows in Torbay have enabled
us to help more people than ever, especially with fresh
vegetables and fruit which people on low or no income
really need. A very big ‘thank-you; to all of the team at
MS at the Willows”.
This Christmas we will also be offering
our customers in the largest 70 stores
the chance to help support the local
Food charity by adding much needed
items to their shopping. You will see
food collection boxes in stores from
the beginning of December.
The MS aim is to continue to reduce
the amount of waste we produce and
then ensure that as much is redistributed
as possible. If you have any clever ideas
to support us in this mission please email
foods.plana@marksandspencer.com

14. news
121212
MS Foods
Sparking Something
Good in London
Spark Something Good Paddington was launched in October enabling head office staff to use up
their volunteer day by making an impact in our local community and having fun in the process.
200 people from Foods signed up
to volunteer at 15 projects all over
London, all with the aim to bring
communities more closely connected
through valuing food, health
and nature.
Several teams used their skills and
knowledge in food and nutrition on
healthy cooking projects; including
a group of Ambient Product
Developers giving a low-salt meal
tutorial to a group of seniors at
Penfold Community Hub; the
Traditional Meals team giving a cooking
class with lots of fresh produce to a
group of juniors at Harrow Youth Club
and another group of Product
Developers designing and cooking
nutritious and inspiring meals from
regularly donated items at North
Paddington Food Bank. 280 hot meals
have been served so far – with the
Ambient Technologists alone serving
200 at Acton Homeless concern!
Whilst some were in the kitchen, other
groups hit the road helping charities
to redistribute food from stores to
various organisations across London:
an amazing 173 trays of food was
saved from being wasted! With
charities short on storage space, teams
helping to organise and quality check
food was really helpful too; the
Ambient Space, Range and Display
team did a brilliant job reorganising
North Paddington Food Bank’s store,
where MS teams quality checked a
total of 2 tonnes of food.
Sleeves were rolled up at two
redecoration projects with one still
to come in November, all aiming to
connect communities with growing
and food. A number of teams got
outdoors too, whether planting bulbs
at a community garden in Epping or
restoring urban fruit and nut orchards
for communities to enjoy and wildlife
to flourish in.
The next Spark Something Good
Paddington programme will be from
the 24th -28th of April. If this has
inspired you to volunteer and you
would like to find a local project to
you check out Neighbourly.com: an
online platform connecting businesses
with charities.
Ambient SRD sorting a foodbank store
International Foods team
redecorating at Harrow Club
15 healthy meals supplied at the
Penfold Community Hub
Food Promotions Team restoring
an orchard in Mill Hill