30/06/2024

Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking
Transparency Statement
June 30 2024

Introduction from the Group Chief Executive
We are proud of our reputation for acting fairly and ethically wherever we do business. This
reputation is built on our company values, the values of our employees, and our collective
commitment to acting with integrity throughout our organisation. We wholeheartedly
condemn modern forms of slavery, such as forced or compulsory labour or human trafficking,and we will not tolerate it in our business or in any business we work with.

Anti Slavery Statement June 20242

Our Business and Organisation’s Structure
Hachette UK is the UK’s second-largest publishing group, withapproximately 1,700 people based in the UK. Its mission is tomake it easy for everyone to discover new worlds of ideas,learning, entertainment, and opportunity.
The group consists of 12 publishing divisions, including:Headline Publishing Group; Hodder & Stoughton; HachetteChildren's Group; Hodder Education Group; John Murray Press;
Quercus; Little, Brown Book Group; Orion Publishing Group;
Octopus Publishing Group; Storyfire Ltd (trading as Bookouture),
Paperblanks and Dialogue Books . Collectively, these divisions
are made up of over 60 individual imprints.

We are:2 Largest publishing GroupndWe have:

1,700 Employees based in the UK
We consist of:

12 Publishing Divisions

Hachette UK is owned by Hachette Livre, one of the world’s
largest trade and educational publishers, which is part of theLagardère group.

Anti Slavery Statement June 2024

3

Distribution

Our Supply Chains

Our Didcot-based distribution centre,
the Hely Hutchinson Centre (HHC),
provides distribution services for all ourcompanies and several third-party UKpublishing clients. The Hely Hutchinson
Centre (HHC), which opened in August
2018, is one of the most advanced
distribution centres in Europe, shipping
more than 60 million books globallyeach year. Approximately 360 people
work at our Didcot site in warehouse
operations, customer services, IT,
finance, and HR.

Our supply chains relate mainly to print
production, typesetting, ebook conversion,warehousing and distribution services, but also
include suppliers providing creative, marketing
and advertising services, general professional
advisers, and IT and office facilities services.
We evaluate the areas of risk of modern slaveryand human trafficking in our business based on thefollowing criteria:(i)

The types of goods/services we purchasewhere modern slavery and human trafficking
vulnerabilities have been reported to be moreprevalent.
(ii) The countries these goods/services are
sourced from using slavery and trafficking risk
indices to identify countries with a higher riskof modern slavery and human trafficking.
(iii) The annual Hachette UK group spend withthese suppliers

We have concluded that the mainareas of greater risk are:
• Colour print, e-book conversion
and book production services inEastern Europe, China, India andthe Middle East
• Office facility services such as
cleaning and catering• Use of agency workers inwarehouses and distribution
centres

Anti Slavery Statement June 2024

4

Our Policies on Slavery and Human Trafficking
We are committed to ensuring there is transparency in our own business and in our approach to tackling modern
slavery or human trafficking, wherever we encounter it, by implementing and enforcing effective systems andcontrols in our business and our supply chains.
Our Responsible Supplier Charter and the Lagardère Group Code of Ethics reflect our commitment to acting
ethically and with integrity in all our business relationships. The Responsible Supplier Charter expects oursuppliers and indirectly their partners and subcontractors to comply with our core principles in the areas of humanrights, labour standards, the environment, anti-corruption, and generally to conduct their activities in a manner
contributing to the broader objective of sustainable development from a social, environmental and economicperspective.

Anti Slavery Statement June 2024

5Audits & Assessment
Hachette UK participates in the Book Chain Project. This is a collaboration between UK and US publishers who have been working
together for over a decade to develop a common process to assess labour and environmental standards in the printing facilities
that produce our products.
The Book Chain Project shares a publishing industry Code of Conduct for suppliers, ensuring that all sites meet their recognisedstandards, based on existing laws and recognised codes, for labour and environmental practices. Publishers may also accept othercomparable standards through the Book Chain Project tool, for example, ICTI or SMETA audits. Suppliers can share their audit
results with multiple publishers, saving them time and money by avoiding duplication.
Hachette UK requires most of its paper, print, bind, gifts and games suppliers to register with the Book Chain Project if they are notalready members of Sedex or the ICTI. Registered suppliers are required to self-audit using approved standards on a 12-monthly
basis and certify as in compliance or issued with a Corrective Action Plan. In the event of a Corrective Action Plan, Hachette UK will
work with the printer in question to improve standards and achieve compliance with the required standards. Suppliers notregistered with the Book Chain Project are required to provide information about their compliance to us separately as part of ourdue diligence processes.
Where high-risk suppliers are not members of Sedex or ICTI, Hachette UK requires them to complete an annual assessment
questionnaire. If any non-compliances are disclosed, Hachette UK will work with the supplier to implement corrective actions. We
expect suppliers to resolve non-compliances within an agreed timeframe. This process is managed through an online platform
operated by EcoVardis.
Anti Slavery Statement June 2024

62023 Actions
In 2023, we began working towards the following targets in Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):ooo

Acceptance of the Suppliers Charter to reach 100% for new high-risk suppliers and 75% forexisting high-risk suppliers;
Site inspections for all high-risk suppliers over the next five years; andInclusion of appropriate compliance undertakings of 100% for new high-risk suppliers and 75%
for existing high-risk suppliers.
We succeeded in reaching a compliance level of 75% or above of our existing high-risk suppliers
accepting our new Suppliers Charter and 75% of existing high risk suppliers including
compliance undertakings in agreements. We did not appoint any new high-risk suppliers.
We took preparatory steps towards meeting our site visit commitments including introducing asite visit guidance and checklist. We held a workshop for relevant staff to discuss how to carryout a site visit and what to look for.
We ensured all relevant staff completed our online training programme.

Anti Slavery Statement June 2024

7

Ongoing due diligence process for Slavery and HumanTrafficking
As part of our initiative to identify and mitigate risk and ensure supplier adherence to our values, we will:•assess and keep under review our activities, especially in areas and jurisdictions deemed to be highrisk, and act on any areas that may pose risk;•ensure all relevant decision-makers within the company and all relevant staff in production,
facilities and distribution are trained, including to raise awareness of the signs of modern slavery
and human trafficking and provide information on how to raise complaints within the company;•conduct due diligence when appointing new suppliers including the introduction of a new DueDiligence questionnaire;•incorporate appropriate compliance undertakings in agreements with suppliers and monitor
compliance by the suppliers; and•achieve target KPIs to mitigate the risk of slavery in the supply chain including (i) onsite
inspections for relevant suppliers; (ii) acceptance of our updated Suppliers Charter; and (iii) formal
agreements with high risk suppliers to include appropriate compliance undertakings.

Anti Slavery Statement June 2024

8

This statement is made pursuant to section 54(1) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and constitutes ourGroup's slavery and human trafficking statement for the financial year ending 31 December 2023.
This statement was approved by the management board of the Hachette UK Group.

David Shelley

Chief Operating Officer

Hachette UK Group
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ

Anti Slavery Statement June 20249