Corporate Social Responsibility

The Directors recognise the importance of monitoring Arena's performance relating to environment, employee and social and community issues and have policies and procedures to enable them to do so.

Environmental matters
The Group operates a Health, Safety and Environmental Policy that sets out the responsibilities of the Directors, management and employees in relation to all health and safety and environmental matters, as well as the procedures to be followed. The Group Health and Safety Manager oversees the implementation of the policy. Specially trained employees have been given responsibility for communicating specific areas of the policy across the Group.

Recycling processes are in place at all seven racecourse venues that allow for the separation and recycling of cardboard and paper, glass, ink cartridges, fluorescent tubes and waste oil. We handle and recycle 120 tonnes of glass waste per annum and are now introducing plastic recycling. Food and stable waste recycling are being targeted as areas for improvement and we are trialling the production of biodiesel from used cooking oil. For each recycling process we have introduced waste monitor responsibilities to nominated operational staff members.

To minimise the risk of environmental damage from major developments, Arena employs environmental consultants and service consultants to carry out assessments in respect of each project and to report to the respective local planning authorities. The Environment Agency ('EA') is also consulted at all stages of the proposals. Measures will be agreed with the contractors to comply with local authority and EA requirements. The designs of all developments also include energy efficiency measures.

Employee matters
The recruitment and retention of the highest calibre employees is of the utmost importance. Policies and procedures, including details on the employee appraisal process, are provided to all employees.
The Group is committed to a policy of recruitment and promotion on the basis of aptitude and ability without discrimination of any kind. All employees and potential employees will be regarded equally and given equal opportunities regardless of their age, gender, race, colour, sexual orientation, religion or belief, ethnic origin, nationality, marital status or disability. Management actively pursue both the employment of disabled persons whenever a suitable vacancy arises and the continued employment and retraining of employees who become disabled whilst employed by the Group. Particular attention is given to the training, career development and promotion of disabled employees with a view to encouraging them to play an active role in the development of Arena.

Arena also runs an apprenticeship programme offering training to 16-18 year olds across a range of disciplines. Two of our racecourses, Wolverhampton and Southwell, continue to hold the Investors in People accreditation standard.

Employee communications are a high priority and staff members are kept informed through regular management meetings at a national, regional and local level, with staff briefings and notices as appropriate. Each year, employees have the opportunity to meet with their line manager to discuss formally their performance and communicate their views; however more frequent discussions are encouraged.

The skills and dedication of our employees are key to the success of Arena's business. Recognising this, the Group devotes itself to the recruitment, training and retention of the highest calibre employees.
Employees are rewarded according to their contribution and capability and to incentivise them to support the Group's activities and strategies. Arena's reward framework takes into account incentives, benefits, share schemes and Long Term Incentive Plan ('LTIP') awards, as well as base pay.

Emphasis is placed on the training and development of staff to maintain high morale and motivation. Arena employs a Group Training Officer who is responsible for overseeing the training and development of all staff. Regular training is provided for racecourse management teams, and they are tasked with ensuring the development of their staff. A regular review process is in place to monitor these procedures, ensuring that the development motivates staff, as evidenced by the low staff turnover rate across the Group.

On racedays Arena relies on a casual workforce for whom the Group is responsible for training and development. The Group aims to provide a high-level of training to encourage individuals to work for Arena regularly, enabling the Group to develop them further, thus meeting Arena's objective of providing quality service to all customers.

Social and community issues
Arena recognises that gambling is closely associated with horseracing and is a popular raceday activity. The Group has taken steps to encourage responsible gambling and to meet the objectives of the Gambling Act 2005, which are:
• Preventing gambling from being a source of crime or disorder, being associated with crime or disorder or being used to support crime;
• Ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way; and
• Protecting children and other vulnerable persons from being harmed or exploited by gambling.

In this respect, all of Arena's racecourses fully support all on-course bookmakers and betting operators in the policies that they have. Arena is supportive of GamCare's work in association with the Administration of Gambling on Tracks Ltd in producing a standard policy on behalf of on-course bookmakers. Arena ensures that information regarding assistance for problem gambling is available at its racecourses, and that all racecourse staff and on-course bookmakers are able to provide this information to race-goers upon request.

Arena recognises that the consumption of alcohol is also associated with a day at the races and has taken steps to encourage responsible drinking through the implementation of a Group-wide, zero-tolerance policy. This policy requires all staff who serve alcohol to receive appropriate training, verify photo identification if age is in doubt and turn away customers who are below the legal drinking age or who appear to have had too much to drink. Catering bar staff, area managers and supervisors work in conjunction with the racecourse stewards to monitor the crowds for underage drinkers.