BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3.1//EN TZID:Europe/London X-WR-TIMEZONE:Europe/London BEGIN:VEVENT UID:193@careengland.org.uk DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20240227T140000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20240227T150000 DTSTAMP:20240228T142643Z URL:https://www.careengland.org.uk/events/esg-what-is-the-direction-of-tra vel-for-the-care-sector/ SUMMARY:ESG: what is the direction of travel for the care sector? DESCRIPTION:This webinar centred on the pivotal role of Environmental\, Soc ial\, and Governance (ESG) factors in moulding sustainable business models \, underlining the increasing significance of ESG in securing funding\, wi nning contracts\, and achieving accreditations. The panel comprised expert s from RSM\, the CQC\, Essex County Council\, and Barclays\, who shared in sights on the trajectory of ESG within the care sector\, highlighting its growing importance for businesses in various ways\, from understanding ESG requirements to developing strategies and its impact on external stakehol ders like banks\, regulators\, and care commissioners.\n\nThe discussions underscored the necessity of integrating ESG into business strategies\, no t just for compliance but as a means to enhance a business's attractivenes s to employees\, customers\, and investors. Panelists shared practical ste ps for businesses to initiate or advance their ESG strategies\, stressing the importance of starting with a clear understanding of current practices \, setting realistic targets\, and leveraging technology for efficiency an d innovation in care delivery. The webinar also addressed funding opportun ities\, including sustainability-linked loans\, and the role of local auth orities and regulators in supporting ESG initiatives within the care secto r.\n\nKey challenges highlighted included the broad scope of ESG\, the nee d for tailored strategies\, and the difficulty in quantifying the social i mpact of ESG activities. However\, the panel was optimistic about the sect or's direction\, with advancements in technology and increased support fro m financial institutions and regulatory bodies promising to facilitate the ESG journey for care providers. The discussion concluded with a call to a ction for businesses to engage with available resources\, advice\, and sup port to develop and implement effective ESG strategies\, emphasising the c ritical role of senior leadership in driving ESG initiatives forward.\n\nY ou can watch the recording here:\n\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90UfW9 8QZVU\n\n[learn_more caption="FAQs"]\nWhat is the business case for ESG?\n There are many opportunities for care businesses to harness ESG going forw ard. It can offer a range of benefits\, such as helping your business stay closer to customers\, and staff attraction\, staff engagement.\n\nSteve E de from Essex County Council: Essex County Council (ECC) has declared an e nvironmental emergency\, therefore ESG is a key political priority for all Local Authorities.  One of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions is Adult Social Care (ASC). Essex County Council is serious about climate impact.  In terms of the procurement process\, social value is typically a key part of the evaluation process.  Essex County Council commissioners typically look for carbon reduction plans\, but this is not always fully evaluated. Procurement regulations are changing in October\, making it eas ier to buy locally.  The direction of travel indicates ESG is important a nd will become increasingly more important\, for example looking at new bi odiversity considerations in each tender.\nEssex County Council would like to help their local providers where possible to make things\, for example advising on retrofitting.  Most Local Authorities will have a scope 3 le vel of importance placed on the Local Authority.\n\nApril Cole from CQC: E SG is definitely on the agenda for the CQC. The CQC are active looking at ESG as an organisation. As a regulator\, looking at ESG as part of their f uture regulatory framework.  CQC strategy will look more closely at ESG i n the future in terms of having a positive impact on quality of service an d sustainability. This area can have an increased positive impact on staff and residents.\nWhat in your view is the application of ESG within social care?\nSteve Fergus from Barclays: To date\, application of ESG has been mixed\, but more clients are engaging on ESG. Barclays are collaborating o n the ‘Time to Act’ report\, which has got a lot of people talking abo ut ESG.\n\nFurther information: https://www.addleshawgoddard.com/en/sector s/health/social-care-sustainability-alliance/\n\nRich Hall\, Head of Susta inability at RSM UK: Seeing organisations at different stages with ESG\, s ome who have not started\, and advises businesses should start as soon as they can\, as there are numerous opportunities and risks coming down the l ine.\n\nSteve Ede from Essex County Council: ECC has struggled to get trac tion with providers\, which is understandable given many other pressures t hey are facing.  In recent tender activity\, they report seeing more carb on reduction ideas\, such as EVs\, featuring more heavily\, domiciliary ca re walking rounds equipment service\, pledges on recycling. They are optim istic\, we are turning a corner and will see an increased level of respons e in this area.\n\nApril Cole from CQC: ESG is quite a new area\, so CQC a re not formerly evaluating it yet\, but hearing increasing examples of pro viders taking action\, such as EV charging\, getting residents interested in gardening.  CQC will be working on their ESG statement over the coming months. They would like to hear from providers on what they are doing abo ut ESG.  CQC are not assessing on ESG at the moment but will do so in the future.\n\nFurther information:   https://www.cqc.org.uk/assessment/qua lity-statements/well-led/environmental-sustainability\nWhat are some of th e key challenges? \nRich Hall\, Head of Sustainability at RSM UK: The scal e of ESG is a key challenge for organisations\, this includes the requirem ents of key stakeholders\, such as residents\, staff\, colleagues\, owners \, shareholders. There is therefore a need to focus on the main KPIs\, whi ch should underpin the overarching business strategy\, which needs to be c onsistent with the core business values.\n\nSteve Fergus from Barclays: Fo r operators\, who are often family-owned businesses\, it can take a dinner table conversation to convince the person holding the purse strings that ESG is important.  He encourages those with an interest in ESG to read mo re about ESG in order to build a convincing business case for decision mak ers.\n\nHow can businesses best monetise the impact of their ESG strategy (ie cost vs benefit analysis)? \nRich Hall\, Head of Sustainability at RSM UK: It’s important to look at ESG from the operational perspective to g ain efficiencies in terms of investment\, as well as investment finance be nefits and operational efficiencies.\n\nSteve Fergus from Barclays: ESG is more than just a pure financial benefit\, businesses also need to look wi der benefits.\n\nPlease could I ask you to say more on how sustainability linked loans work with relation to the care sector?\nSteve Fergus from Bar clays: If a business has carbon reduction plan in place with targets\, the lender is willing to reduce the lending facility cost slightly as a resul t.\n\nPlease contact Steve Fergus from Barclays for more information.\n\nE SG strategy: What does good look like for care homes? \nSteve Fergus from Barclays: It is important to get a plan together\, measure your current en ergy/resources usage\, think about a baseline and pulling data together.  This is what lenders are looking for.\n\nSteve Ede from Essex County Coun cil: Developing a strategy and a baseline is key. Anything you are doing c urrently is a good place to start.\n\nApril Cole from CQC: The CQC want to learning about the application of ESG in the care sector and want to hear from care providers.\n\nRich Hall\, Head of Sustainability at RSM UK: You r ESG strategy needs to be holistic and balanced\, with social at its core . It’s good to have residents and staff at the centre of it.\n\nPlease c ontact Rich Hall from RSM UK for more information.\n\nSuneel Gupta\, Head of Private Healthcare at RSM UK: Seen it working best where a senior perso n is at the top and accountable for the project and delivery of the ESG st rategy.\n\nReceive RSM’s dedicated healthcare insights visit our prefere nce centre and select ‘healthcare’: https://news.rsmuk.com/preference- centre/\n\nFind out more about RSM’s ESG services: ESG | RSM UK\n\nHow can technology be used to facilitate an organization’s ESG strategy?\nRi ch Hall\, Head of Sustainability at RSM UK:  Technology can improve the o perational efficiency of your estate\, also innovative technologies can im prove the delivery of health and patient care\, such as remote monitoring\ , communications don’t need to be in person. It’s not just about carbo n reduction\, but improving resident care\, such as getting people into th e garden\, developing positive biodiversity in your estate.\n\nSteve Fergu s from Barclays: Technology needs to take account of patient information s afeguarding\, data collected and stored. Digital plans and other software can be used to evidence good ESG practices and can extend to sustainabilit y and carbon usage. Digitising areas of social care will help to influence care businesses’ carbon reduction plans.\n\nApril Cole from CQC: CQC ar e seeing great examples of innovation to enhance sustainability and improv e monitoring. Innovation isn’t just about technology. For the CQC\, peop le and quality of care are always at the heart of innovation.\n\nHow will the potential change to a Labour government impact the direction of travel ?\nSteve Ede from Essex County Council: Hope ESG as key part of the direct ion of travel in the care sector will survive no matter who is in power.\n \nApril Cole from CQC: Net zero commitments are being made at national lev el\, therefore\, a change in government is unlikely to change CQC approach to ESG.\n\nIt is important for providers to really delve into each of the initials of ES &\; G to understand and evaluate what they are already doing as a starting point as many already have good things happening under this heading.\n\nRich Hall\, Head of Sustainability at RSM UK:  So much is already being done around climate\, waste\, recycling\, biodiversity\, but it businesses need to be able to report on it.\n\nSteve Fergus from Ba rclays:  Measuring social impact is difficult\, providers are likely to b e doing more than they realise.\n\n \;\nIs there likely to be funding available for providers to meet their ESG targets?\nSteve Fergus from Barc lays:  The Sustainability Alliance are considering how this may work in t he future\, for example green loans for projects\, retrofit projects are c ostly and right now banks need to come up with more support.\n\n \;\nW hat role does the panel think ESG might play in driving different ways of measuring employee engagement?\nRich Hall\, Head of Sustainability at RSM UK:  ESG is already driving employee engagement. It is one of the key str ands under Social to understanding what your business is doing and how you are measuring employee engagement. Traditional methods include regular em ployee questionnaires but also beneficial to get all levels of the busines s involved in ESG projects and continuous improvements.\n\n \;\nOther comments in the chat:\nAs a member of several small Care Associations enga ging with LA's\, ESG is a really live and important subject that will be a n important subject to discuss with providers at forums etc for increased support and understanding.\n\nIt is important for providers to really delv e into each of the initials of ES &\; G to understand and evaluate what they are already doing as a starting point as many already have good thin gs happening under this heading.\n\nTo help providers keep track of what t hey're doing under ESG\, Care England created an ESG module on SMART\, whi ch is free for all care providers! https://smart.careengland.org.uk/care-h omes\n\n[/learn_more]\n\n \;\n\n \;\n\n \; ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://www.careengland.org.uk/wp-content/upload s/2024/01/RSM-ESM-NEW.2.png CATEGORIES:Care England END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London BEGIN:STANDARD DTSTART:20231029T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR