Governance
Gamma understands the importance of having a well-established governance regime across its business and how fundamental this is to its continued success.
Gamma's approach to governance
Gamma recognises that different governance structures are appropriate at different stages of a company’s development and as a rapidly growing business it is seeking to keep the maturity of governance structures ahead of the level that would be deemed appropriate for the size of the business.
The Board is responsible to the shareholders for the proper management of the Group and more on Corporate Governance can be found in the Governance report.
Management oversees the establishment of controls across the Company which are managed through a combination of internal frameworks and externally recognised and audited standards. These controls take the form of Group and local level policies which determine the requirements for technology protocols such as access to internal systems, critical processes such as commercial approval or the management of network change, and the expectations that Gamma places upon its employees and its stakeholders. These internal controls align to and inform Gamma's Corporate Governance, reported on here, ensuring Board level oversight.
Governance process
Gamma's risk management framework is closely coupled to its governance priorities and this connection ensures that these priorities are owned and managed at a suitable level within the Company.
In 2021 Gamma built on its internal governance, with investment in first line capabilities to bolster internal controls and moving internal governance activity to be managed by a specialist team. The result of this is an independent review of internal controls, driving a continuous improvement ethos.
In 2021 Gamma launched a new policy framework to ensure its policies are owned, defined, implemented, and updated in an effective way. Specifically, this framework encourages greater consistency in policy design, clear behavioural guidelines and encourages greater use of conformance measures. All Group policies are signed off at the relevant Board subcommittee. All policy is governed by the internal governance team to drive consistency.
Current Group policies include:
- Anti-bribery and Corruption policy
- Environmental Management policy
- Ethical Conduct policy
- Political Contribution policy
- Risk Management policy
- Share Dealing policy
- Whistleblowing policy
The Company wants to ensure that it continues to empower employees to challenge boundaries but without taking inappropriate risk.
External Certifications
Gamma holds various certifications within its UK business and it is the intention to apply common standards to its recently acquired subsidiaries within the UK and Europe. Gamma UK is certified to:
- ISO 27001: Information Security, certified since 2012
- ISO22301: Business Continuity Management, certified since 2013
- ISO 14001: Environmental Management, certified since 2013
- ISO 9001: Quality Management, certified since 2003
- ISO 10008: Electronic Information Management, certified since 2020
- Cyber Essentials, certified since 2019
Group subsidiaries ‘Gamma Benelux’, and ‘HFO’ attained ISO27001 certification in 2021.
In 2022 Gamma will begin to bring its standards under a single Integrated Management System (IMS), which will ensure greater consistency in the way in which these standards are managed across the Gamma Group.
Internal Audit
Gamma's internal audit structure ensures it reviews a wide range of capabilities that align to its ISO certifications and Principal Risks. The output of the audits is shared with the teams subject to the audit to ensure a culture of continuous improvement is maintained.
Since the introduction of ISO standards within the Company Gamma has been conducting regular internal audits to assure ongoing compliance. Since this time the Company has continued to extend the reach of its internal audit function and is now in its second year of enhancing this capability, regularly working with an external partner to provide audit resources when Gamma's own internal capability is not considered suitable. In addition, Gamma's UK business is regularly and successfully audited by its larger Enterprise and Public Sector customers.