Our corporate governance framework is aimed at ensuring an alignment of interests between shareholders and company management. Within this framework, there is a clear separation of roles and responsibilities. The functions of governance are undertaken by our shareholders and by the Board of Directors who act on their behalf, whilst the functions of management are delegated to the Group’s Chief Executive and his management team.

In November 2009 the inaugural ICSA Hermes Transparency in Governance Awards were held in London. These awards are to identify and acknowledge companies providing excellent governance disclosure in their annual report and accounts. We were short listed for two of the eight awards to companies in the FTSE250, “Best practice disclosure on risk management and internal control” and “Best practice disclosure on director development, board evaluation and succession planning.” We are very proud to have been announced as the winner of the FTS250 category for “Best practice disclosure on risk management and internal control.”

More information is available in the Corporate Governance Report of our latest Annual Report.