ASTRAZENECA PLC modern slavery statement summary (2023)

Organisation address
1 Francis Crick Avenue,
Cambridge Biomedical Campus,
Cambridge,
United Kingdom,
CB2 0AA

We asked the organisation a series of questions about its modern slavery statement. Its answers are published on this page as a statement summary.

This statement provides information for 5 of 6 recommended areas

What is a modern slavery statement?
UK law requires certain organisations to publish an annual modern slavery statement on their website, setting out the steps they are taking to address modern slavery risks in their operations and supply chains. Read more in the government guidance on publishing modern slavery statements.
Link to full statement
Go to full modern slavery statement on organisation’s website

PDF version of the statement

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About this statement summary

All answers relate to the financial year covered by the statement. The organisation is responsible for all the information it provided. Some of our questions are optional, so organisations may not have answered all of them. The statement summary does not replace the full modern slavery statement – below we provide a link to the full statement on the organisation’s website.

Contents

Organisations covered by the statement

ASTRAZENECA PLC modern slavery statement for 2023 is a group statement covering 6 organisations. See the full list of organisations covered by this statement

Statement period and sign-off details

The statement covers the following period:
1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022

The statement was signed off by:
Pascal Soriot (CEO)

It was approved by the board (or equivalent management body) on:
31 January 2023

Recommended areas covered by the statement

Government guidance encourages organisations to cover a range of areas in their modern slavery statements, setting out the steps they’re taking to address modern slavery risks in their operations and supply chains. Read about the recommended areas in the statutory guidance.

We asked the organisation to tell us which areas its statement covers.

Areas recommended by government guidance Organisation’s response
The organisation’s structure, business and supply chains Covered
Policies Covered
Risk assessment Covered
Due diligence (steps to address risk) Covered
Training about modern slavery Covered
Goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of the organisation's actions and progress over time Covered
We have discussed our goals but with no key performance indicators other than on training, we are reviewing these internally for inclusion in the next statement

The organisation’s sectors and turnover

Sectors

The organisation operates in the following sectors:

  • Healthcare and pharmaceuticals

Turnover

Its turnover in the financial accounting year of this statement was:

Over £500 million

If the organisation is a public body, this amount is based on the organisation’s budget for the year of the statement.
What does 'turnover' refer to in group statements?
If this is a group statement, this includes the total turnover for all the organisations covered by the statement.

Number of years producing statements

The organisation has been producing modern slavery statements for the following number of years:
1 to 5 years
How does this work for group statements?
If the statement is for a group of organisations, this answer applies to the organisation with the longest history of producing statements.

Policies (optional)

We asked the organisation whether its policies include the following provisions in relation to its domestic and international supply chains, as well as its own operations.
Policy provisions we asked about Organisation’s response
Freedom of workers to terminate employment Included
Freedom of movement Included
Freedom of association Included
Prohibits any threat of violence, harassment and intimidation Included
Prohibits the use of worker-paid recruitment fees Included
Prohibits compulsory overtime Included
Prohibits child labour Included
Prohibits discrimination Included
Prohibits confiscation of workers' original identification documents Included
Provides access to remedy, compensation and justice for victims of modern slavery Included
Other
Not included

Training (optional)

We asked the organisation whether it provided training on modern slavery, and who it was for.
What counts as training?
We explained that by ‘training’ we meant anything designed to increase knowledge and skills around identifying, addressing or preventing modern slavery risks. This could range from formal training courses to broader awareness-raising activities such as workshops or webinars.
We asked who the training was for Organisation’s response
Your whole organisation No
Your front line staff Yes
Human resources Yes
Executive-level staff Yes
Procurement staff Yes
Your suppliers Yes
The wider community Yes
Other
No

Monitoring working conditions (optional)

Engaging with others

We asked the organisation to tell us who it engaged with to help monitor working conditions across its operations and supply chains.
We asked who the organisation engaged with Organisation’s response
Your suppliers Yes
Trade unions or worker representative groups Yes
Civil society organisations No
Professional auditors Yes
Workers within your organisation Yes
Workers within your supply chain No
Central or local government No
Law enforcement, such as police, GLAA and other local labour market inspectorates No
Businesses in your industry or sector Yes

Social audits

We asked the organisation to tell us about any social audits it used to look for signs of modern slavery.
What are social audits?
A social audit is a review of an organisation’s working practices from the point of view of social responsibility, and should include an evaluation of working conditions in the organisation’s operations and supply chains. By their nature, audits of supplier workplaces represent a snapshot in time.
Social audits we asked about Organisation’s response
Audit conducted by your staff No
Third party audit arranged by your organisation Yes
Audit conducted by your supplier’s staff No
Third party audit arranged by your supplier No
Announced audit Yes
Unannounced audit Yes

Grievance mechanisms

We asked the organisation how workers in its operations or supply chains could raise concerns or make complaints.
We asked if workers could raise concerns this way Organisation’s response
Using anonymous whistleblowing services, such as a helpline or mobile phone app Yes
Through trade unions or other worker representative groups Yes

Other ways of monitoring working conditions

We asked the organisation whether it had any other ways of monitoring working conditions across its operations and supply chains:
Organisation’s response
The organisation did not answer this question.

Modern slavery risks (optional)

Warning Identifying modern slavery risks is a vital step towards eradicating it. The government encourages organisations to be as open and transparent as possible, to improve understanding, collaboration and best practice around tackling this worldwide problem.
We asked the organisation to describe up to 3 priority risks it focused on during the period of the statement, including details of the affected workers, the activity involved, and the location.

Priority risks for this organisation (1 of 3)

Compliant sourcing of raw materials globally for example, active pharmaceutical ingredients in some of our medicines and drug substance and/or finished drug product, formulated drugs and packaging.
Questions we asked about this risk Organisation’s response
Where it was most likely to occur Organisation’s response: Within your supply chains.
  • Tier 2 suppliers
    Provide products and services to your organisation via your Tier 1 suppliers.
Who was it most likely to affect Organisation’s response:
  • Women
  • Migrants
  • Refugees
  • Children
In which country Organisation’s response: No details provided
Actions or plans to address this risk Organisation’s response: We aim to have sustainability action plans in place for our major raw material and packaging supply chains known as our Raw Materials Responsible Sourcing Framework. We use existing certification schemes from reputable NGOs and engage in stakeholder dialogue where necessary to ensure that our purchases come from well managed and responsible sources based on supply chain transparency and credible verification.

Priority risks for this organisation (2 of 3)

Visibility of our supply chain beyond tier 1
Questions we asked about this risk Organisation’s response
Where it was most likely to occur Organisation’s response: Within your supply chains.
  • Tier 3 suppliers and below
    Provide products and services to your organisation via your Tier 2 suppliers or the next higher level in the chain.
Who was it most likely to affect Organisation’s response:
  • Women
  • Migrants
  • Refugees
  • Children
In which country Organisation’s response: Malaysia
Actions or plans to address this risk Organisation’s response: We have initiated a project in collaboration with Tier 1 suppliers to review the laboratory glove supply chain and identify opportunities to address the sustainability and human rights risks and work with external organisations to mitigate including increased assurance activity and assessing manufacturers against UNGP reporting framework as well as working to improve supply chain transparency.

Priority risks for this organisation (3 of 3)

Gaps in Human & Labour Rights awareness and visibility within Alexion, a company acquired by AstraZeneca in 2021
Questions we asked about this risk Organisation’s response
Where it was most likely to occur Organisation’s response: Within your own operations.
Who was it most likely to affect Organisation’s response: No details provided
In which country Organisation’s response: No details provided
Actions or plans to address this risk Organisation’s response: We have rolled out Modern Slavery Awareness training to Alexion employees and are working to implement Human & Labour Rights due diligence so that we are better able to assess the risks and increase awareness of our expectations with Alexion third parties.

Indicators of forced labour (optional)

We asked the organisation whether its statement refers to finding any International Labour Organization (ILO) indicators of forced labour.
What are ILO indicators of forced labour?
The International Labour Organization (ILO) has produced a list of the most common signs of forced labour. They’re based on the definition of forced labour as ‘all work or service which is extracted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.’ More details and guidance are available on the ILO website, and in their publication ILO indicators of forced labour
ILO indicators we asked about Organisation’s response
Abuse of vulnerability Yes
Deception No
Restriction of movement No
Isolation No
Physical and sexual violence No
Intimidation and threats No
Retention of identity documents No
Withholding of wages No
Debt bondage Yes
Abusive working and living conditions Yes
Excessive overtime No
Other
-

Actions taken in response to finding ILO indicators

We asked the organisation to tell us whether its statement refers to any actions it took after finding indicators of forced labour
Actions we asked about Organisation’s response
Financial remediation, including repayment of recruitment fees No
Change in policy Yes
Change in training No
Referring potential victims to government services No
Supporting victims via NGO No
Supporting investigations by relevant authorities No
Other
-

Demonstrating progress (optional)

We asked the organisation how its statement demonstrates progress over time in addressing modern slavery risks. They provided the following answer:
AstraZeneca launched a new third party due diligence process in 2022 with enhanced Human & Labour rights risk assessment including continuous monitoring of publicly available information. AstraZeneca also extended our collaboration with EcoVadis to conduct benchmarking of over 1,100 suppliers, as a result 154 suppliers have action plans in place to improve their position on Labour and Human Rights.