Interserve has revealed its comprehensive, business-wide sustainability plan which lays the foundations for the Company's continued growth and sustained performance.

•Further 500 apprentices to be created as part of a detailed, group-wide strategic action plan to integrate sustainability across the group

•Targets linked to building more skills and opportunities including providing 1,000 school placements each year

•Establishes measurable targets to improve business performance

•Knowledge, learning and skills to play a crucial role in its delivery

•Financial performance at the heart of the plan.

The plan, called 'SustainAbilities', establishes clear and measurable targets for Interserve and its workforce of more than 50,000 people. It provides a detailed framework for Interserve to deliver its services in a way that has a beneficial impact on society and the environment, in-turn delivering sustainable growth and profit to shareholders. The framework emphasises the role of knowledge, alongside the more traditional measures of sustainability as central to its success.

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The SustainAbilities plan is built around Interserve's core vision 'to redefine the future for people and places'. Sustainability performance will be measured not only in traditional financial terms but also using four 'capitals' that capture the wider impact of the business's growing range of activities, which increasingly include front-line services.

The four capitals are:

•Natural Capital - stewardship of energy and natural resources

•Social Capital - health and well-being of employees and the community

•Knowledge Capital - nurturing talent, enabling innovation and increasing the skill-base of society

•Financial Capital - effective management of risk, reducing cost and realising new opportunities for growth.

Tim Haywood, Interserve's Group Finance Director and Head of Sustainability, said: "We have set out today an ambitious and radical plan for the rest of this decade that is designed to challenge our management, our staff and our partners. As one of the UK's largest employers, working hand-in-hand on a daily basis with both the public and the private sector, we are only too aware of our broad responsibilities to society and the environment around us.

"The plan announced today puts sustainability at the forefront of our decision-making. It will define how we work, the decisions that we take as a business and create a new culture among our employees and management. It will be critical to our future success as a business."

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