Alliance Boots

Health & Beauty Division

Over the last year, we have completed the introduction of a single unified corporate social responsibility framework across our Health & Beauty business in the UK. Our work during 2007/08 has been to embed this within the former Alliance Pharmacy part of the business where there was also a long tradition of corporate social responsibility activity.

The strength of the Boots pharmacy brand rests on the trust it inspires in customers. Ultimately, the breadth of corporate social responsibility issues adopted throughout Boots is one of the means by which trust is maintained and strengthened. The clarity of our new structure enables us to be certain about how we plan to meet our corporate social responsibility performance targets and keep our promises.

As part of the bringing together of Boots and Alliance Pharmacy, the majority of the Alliance Pharmacy outlets in the UK are in the process of being branded as “your local Boots pharmacy”. Rebranding our outlets to inspire confidence in our customers is of little value unless the products and services we offer are of a similarly high standard. Our aim is to provide our customers with products they can believe in, whether we are selling our own brands or those of other manufacturers. This means they must be of excellent quality; but no less important is the way that products are made; where the materials are sourced; and the impact of their manufacture and transport. In all these areas, we are working with a wide range of partners to improve the performance and effectiveness of the products we sell.

Over the last year, for example, we have worked with the “Green Chemistry Centre” at the University of York in the UK to better understand the lifecycles of four types of product: soap, shampoo, moisturiser and toothpaste. This will enable us to reduce the environmental impact of our products, helping our customers to develop a greater understanding of how their buying decisions can make a difference.

Our Health & Beauty businesses in other countries have also established their own corporate social responsibility programmes in collaboration with Pharmaceutical Wholesale Division colleagues to establish consistent approaches to programmes within individual countries. This ensures that there is no duplication of effort and resources and means that the impact of any activity is maximised.