This report is focussed on accountability. For the first time, brands are reporting on the implementation of purchasing practices and then having that implementation be measured against performance indicators.

The report outlines the results of the ACT Commitment Reporting Questionnaire, analysing how well member brands are meeting each of the five ACT Global Purchasing Practices Commitments. The report then compares these results with responses from staff within each ACT member brand and with the perception of manufacturers supplying ACT member brands.

Currently, there is no comparable industry accountability measure.

ACT has just published a report on the largest survey ever carried out with suppliers and brand employees on purchasing practices, and we are so proud to have been involved.

With over 1,300 suppliers and 1,800 brand employees taking part, the anonymous survey covers all key garment manufacturing countries and is a hugely important piece of research, marking a significant contribution to understanding the state of play for purchasing practices in the global garment, textile and footwear industry.

The report offers an assessment of the purchasing practices of some of the world’s biggest fashion and retail brands and shows how the brands involved are making good progress against the ACT Commitments. It also shows the need for much greater education and awareness building, within both brand employees and suppliers, to support continued improvement, and highlights the conditions needed to ensure a living wage is paid to workers in the global garment and footwear supply chain.

Carnstone developed the survey platform and analysed and reported on the data gathered, these are the largest surveys into the purchasing practices of major international brands and retailers carried out to date.

The John Lewis Partnership Better Jobs Programme was designed to support JLP suppliers to build better jobs for the people that make their products.

The Better Jobs Programme consists of two parts: a framework that helps suppliers think about the ways they support, engage and reward their employees, and the World of Work Survey that captures the views of the employees themselves.

2020 was the second year of the programme and 45 suppliers took part, with over 1,800 responses to the World of Work Survey. This means that since inception, 52 suppliers have taken part in the framework and over 2,600 survey responses have been collected.

The programme was also piloted with 15 suppliers in China this year. Those 15 suppliers had an excellent response rate to the survey, with almost 3,000 employees taking part.

We are extremely proud to have supported the John Lewis Partnership with the Better Jobs Programme since the beginning.

To find out some of the key findings from the Better Jobs Programme in both the UK and China this year, please click here.