Friday, 26 November 2010

Jaguar Land Rover Awarded National Standard of Excellence for Community Investment

Jaguar Land Rover has become the first car manufacturer in the UK to achieve the highly regarded CommunityMark.

Awarded by Business in the Community, the CommunityMark is widely recognised as the national standard of excellence for community investment. The company is one of only four* organisations to receive the award this year.

This achievement is in recognition of Jaguar Land Rover's considerable investment in community programmes, including five Education Business Partnership Centres, employee volunteering programmes, national educational initiatives and a wide range of community partnerships. 

Last year Jaguar Land Rover:

■Invested a total of £1,250,000 (including in-kind support)
■Involved 15% of employees in community projects and contributed £256,000 worth of their employee's time in volunteering
■Reached 12,600 school children by involving them in educational programmes
■Gave nearly 300 young people direct experience of the world of work
To achieve the CommunityMark, companies were assessed according to five key principles of community investment. This rigorous process is validated by an independent panel of public, private and third sector representatives and assured externally by AD Little. Since its launch in 2008, only 38 UK companies have achieved the mark, which is endorsed by HRH The Prince of Wales.

Mike Wright, Executive Director, Jaguar Land Rover, said: "Jaguar Land Rover has a well established community programme across the UK, with a particular focus on the areas surrounding our operating facilities. Each year hundreds of our employees get involved in their local communities and take part in educational, environmental and charity projects. Becoming the first car manufacturer to achieve the CommunityMark is excellent news for those employees and of course, exceptional external recognition for Jaguar Land Rover."

Stephen Howard, Chief Executive of Business in the Community said: "During a considerably tough year these four* organisations have proved that continuing to listen, engage and respond to the needs of your community reinforces the fact that excellence in community investment not only has a positive and valuable impact on society, but translates to real business benefits.

"They have focused on social issues such as education, training and anti-social behaviour and fostered strong reciprocal partnerships to help improve the knowledge and skills in their local communities to ensure that there are people to support the local economy and business."

* This years other recipients were Capital Shopping Centres, East Midlands Airport, and Prudential.