Auditors have heavily criticized Railtrack’s Social Responsibility Report, which has been published on the company’s web site.
In the report, the auditors, csr network, say the firm has not included all relevant data and – highly unusually – that they cannot comment on the accuracy of the information. They conclude: ‘The report does not present a complete or balanced account of the social or environmental performance of Railtrack.’
The UK rail company, which was recently put into administration, has produced a non-financial report for four years. But this is the first year that it has been audited to standards laid down by the Institute for Social and Ethical Accountability.
Last year’s audit, by Enviros Aspinwall, drew attention to poor data collection and said systems needed to improve urgently.
Railtrack said that the company accepted the audit criticisms and would try to do better next year. ‘It’s fine. It helps us to improve the report,’ a spokesperson said. ‘We welcome the constructive criticism. We will aim to improve, but we are already doing more than most.’
The company’s official response to the audit statement, published as part of the report, identifies three specific areas for improvement for next year: human resources, stakeholder dialogue and data collation.
csr network recently criticized the social and environmental report of British Airways for its ‘lack of completeness’ (EP3, issue 6).
Adrian Henriques, who works with the consultancy, said: ‘This shows that verification matters and is not just a rubber stamp.’