The importance we place on our relationship with Business in the Community (BitC) is reflected by the time our senior managers invest in it. This investment begins with our Executive Chairman, Kevin Beeston, who is personally committed to BitC's responsible business agenda. Leading by example, he provides advice and mentoring to the CEO of Pecan, a social enterprise that provides training for the long-term unemployed.

Other members of our top management team share Kevin's strong links with the BitC. Last July, our Chief Executive Christopher Hyman delivered the keynote speech at BitC's annual conference, where he urged other businesses to recognise the importance of instilling a value-based culture. He also led a Seeing is Believing visit in the West Midlands

Other senior Serco managers who are actively driving the BitC agenda include Robert Smith, Director, Assurance, who sits on BitC's Business Action on Economic Renewal leadership team. Chaired by Sir Stuart Hampson of John Lewis, this team seeks new ways to channel business expertise into regenerating areas of chronic deprivation. Robert also sits on BitC's ENGAGE leadership team, which facilitates an international business network of BitC members in the joint planning and implementation of community volunteering programmes in Europe. Suzanne Baxter, Finance Director of Serco Solutions, played a leadership role on BitC's gender diversity programme, Opportunity Now, which is chaired by The Guardian's Chief Executive, Carolyn McCall.

We already use the BitC CR Index to measure our CR performance and benchmark it against other businesses. This year, we achieved the highest score in the Support Services sector.

Looking ahead, we will actively encourage other businesses to engage in social issues through BitC initiatives such as HRH The Prince of Wales' Seeing is Believing programme. Visits organised by the programme are designed to give business leaders a first-hand look at social issues facing the UK today, raising their understanding of how companies can work in partnership with community organisations to overcome these issues. The aim is to motivate more businesses to get involved in community support.

This year, we led two Seeing is Believing visits. The first, a joint effort with the Ford Motor Company, took place at the Serco-managed prison and young offenders' institution HMP & YOI Doncaster in the UK. This visit contributed to Ford opening a facility for training youngsters to become motor mechanics at another Serco-managed young offenders' institution at Ashfield. The second visit, hosted by Serco's Chief Executive, Christopher Hyman, took place in the West Midlands and showed business leaders the benefits of skills training inside and outside the working environment.

We are also sponsoring and involved with a BitC-led initiative to produce guidance for businesses on how to measure their social impact. As BitC Chief Executive Julia Cleverdon comments: “This is a highly complex area. The fact that Serco is prepared to grasp the many challenges it presents indicates how committed it is to working for the shared interests of the business community.”