Welcome to the frequently asked questions page for the Welsh Ethical Employment in Supply Chains Code of Practice, where we have listed all the questions we have had during the supplier onboarding process in partnership with Welsh Government. The answers here have been co-written by TISCreport and the Welsh Government anti-slavery team, and we hope very much that you will find the answers both useful and reassuring. For more general information about TISCreport and the data we hold, there are two more FAQs:
Frequently Asked Questions, and
A broad overview of basic features is described in the TISCreport Features section.
Is all the information that I upload onto TISCreport going to be made public?
No, the only information that is public and appears by default when someone searches for your organisation on the site is your modern slavery statement, and whether you have registered your commitment to the Code of Practice. If you have other publicly accessible accreditations relating to corporate transparency, these too will appear on your profile. Only this information is made public, even if your account has not been verified.
Your entries into the Code of Practice progress tracker are only accessible to you and Welsh Government. In future you may wish to make your progress public but this is something only you will have control over. This "publish" function does not yet exist as an option on tiscreport and will be reviewed by Welsh Government once the first stage of supplier onboarding is complete.
The Supplier Dashboard is for you to monitor the transparency of your tier 1 suppliers. If you list Company A in your dashboard as a supplier, then you will appear as a buyer in their private, secure dashboard. However your supply chain will not be available publicly to anyone unless you choose to share it by changing the setting in your company profile.
Does registering my commitment to the code of practice mean that I have already ensured that all 12 commitments of the code have been put into action within my organisation?
No. Registering your commitment to the Welsh Government’s Code of Practice means that your organisation has agreed to begin making progress on the 12 commitments of the Code. You may have already formally signed up to the Code by sending an email to the Code of Practice inbox as detailed in the Code of Practice guide. If so, you should be receiving an invitation to log your commitment on TISCreport.
What does verifying/authenticating my account mean?
By verifying/authenticating your account, your page will show that the modern slavery statement (if you have one) appearing on the site definitely belongs to your organisation. It also means that you can choose to change your public commitment to the Code of Practice from ‘not registered’ to ‘registered’. Once authenticated your progress will be shared with Welsh Government via their private and secure dashboard.
How do I know that my data is safe on TISCreport?
TISCreport is compliant with and adheres to GDPR (the general data protection regulation). Additionally we are registered data controllers with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), registration number ZA225006.
How does TISCreport help me track my supplier's commitment to the Code of Practice, which is commitment 6 of the Code?
TISCreport offers a useful tool, the supplier dashboard, to keep track of your supply chain which falls in line with the Welsh Government's Code of Practice commitment 6. Your organisation's dashboard on TISCreport provides a simple way to view or upload your suppliers and invite them to join TISC themselves and commit to the Code of Practice. Additionally, if they have already committed, you will be able to see their commitment from the dashboard without having to ask them again. You will not be able to view their answers within the tracker at present but as their one of their customers, this will become an option in a future update of TISCreport.
If another organisation has the same suppliers as me, then do I have to upload my suppliers to the site again?
Yes. TISCreport aggregates buying leverage from all members who are procuring from suppliers, and in uploading your suppliers you are encouraging them to take the Code of Practice and Modern Slavery Act seriously. You will be able to track not only compliance but any emerging supply chain risks TISCreport has access to. If you are procuring through a central procurement consortium however, you can specify the consortium in your supplier dashboard instead along with identifying invoices from them and other direct suppliers for identification purposes. Your supply chain transparency will then consider the supplier data from your chosen consortium (or consortia).
What kind of accounts can suppliers have?
For companies unable to afford basic membership (which starts at £200+VAT per annum) there is a free membership level that enables them to share their commitments, compliance statements and supply chain data at no cost. This means that there is absolutely no financial barrier to taking part in the mission to drive transparency through entire supply chains.
Are our suppliers' account linked to our own account?
Yes, but your supplier will also appear in multiple other dashboards because (usually) you will not be the only organisation purchasing from them. Their account belongs to them but will be linked to yours. By adding them to your own dashboard you will be able to receive updates on their compliance and commitment status. Your suppliers in turn will be able to add their own tier 1 suppliers and monitor their transparency through the system. TISCreport enables each member to be able to choose to share their supply chain data to enable their own customers to increase the transparency of their supply chains. You as a procuring entity can choose whether or not you require them to do this on a proportion of their supply chain.
Our organisation purchases through a procurement consortium. Do we need to upload our suppliers?
If you specify your procurement consortium within your supplier dashboard and specify that you procure either partially or completely through them, we can use their (shared) supply chain data to qualify your successful implementation of commitment 6 of the Code of Practice provided they have joined TISCreport and achieved commitment 6 themselves.
Have you got members and data from our sector in TISCreport?
Yes! You can look through our full list and select the relevant sector SIC category to see what we hold for each of them.
https://tiscreport.org/organisations-with-statements
Public bodies and educational bodies are special types of member within TISCreport however and do not appear in that list breakdown. Contact us for more details.
Can I download a list of who has signed up to the Code of Practice?
Yes! You can download a copy here:
https://tiscreport.org/sites/default/files/TiscReportWelshCOPProgress.csv
