Risk management

The Partnership Board has overall responsibility for internal control and the management of risk throughout the business. It is management's responsibility to identify and evaluate the risks of business strategies and operations and for implementing and maintaining systems for managing those risks in an efficient and effective manner alongside their business planning processes.

Chairman and Chairman's Committee

The Chairman and his management team, including the Chairman's Committee, have responsibility for steering the Partnership's development of systems for managing risk throughout the business, for assessing significant risks identified by executive management, for evaluating and monitoring management's actions to manage those risks and for reporting to the Board. The team is currently composed of the Managing Directors of Waitrose and John Lewis, the Finance Director and Director of Personnel, together with the Partners' Counsellor and the Director of Partnership Services.

In addition, the Partnership Board's Audit and Risk Committee is responsible for satisfying itself that the risk management framework and systems are appropriate and effective, and the Head of Risk Management advises the Partnership Board and the management on the development and implementation of the Partnership's risk management strategy, policy and methods.

CSR Risk management

We have a process to assess and prioritise our CSR risks, which helps us to decide where to focus our efforts and identify opportunities. This process is supported by our governance arrangements.