Report of The Board in relation to remuneration policy and practice
3. Advisors to the Committee
During 2007, David Fisher, Director, Group HR, acted as Secretary to the Committee and provided advice to it. Ian Goodwin, previously Secretary to the Committee, continued to provide advice to it. Harry Baines, Company Secretary, also provided advice to the Committee. In addition, the Committee sought independent external advice on remuneration matters. The Committee does not retain a lead advisor but uses organisations best suited to undertake specific projects from time to time. During 2007, the Committee took advice, directly or indirectly, from:
- Watson Wyatt Limited, in relation to pension issues; a partner from this organisation acts as Trustee Actuary to the Group’s final salary pension scheme;
- Mercer Human Resource Consulting, in relation to pension issues; this organisation also acts as Corporate Actuary to the Group;
- Hay Group, in relation to general remuneration issues; this organisation also advises the Group on a range of remuneration issues;
- McLagan Partners, in relation to specialist remuneration issues; this organisation also advises certain divisions in the Group on a range of remuneration issues;
- New Bridge Street Consultants LLP, in relation to various policy and remuneration issues and in relation to the preparation of this report; and
- Linklaters, in relation to various legal issues and in relation to the preparation of this report; this organisation also provides legal advice to the Group on remuneration and on a wide range of other issues.
In the opinion of the Committee, there were no conflicts of interest during 2007 in relation to these organisations advising the Group, the pension scheme trustees and the Committee.