b'32 Mercia Asset Management PLC Annual Report & Accounts 2022Responsible business continuedWhat we have achievedFoundation of the ResponsibleFocus on diversity and inclusionInvestment Committee The Responsible Investment Committees Mercia founded the Responsiblefirst initiative was to focus on diversity Investment Committee in 2021 and madeand inclusion within Mercia. The best way Jill Williams, the Deputy Fund Principalto promote diversity and inclusion in our of Private Equity, our Head of ESG.portfolio companies is to demonstrate its benefits by effecting change internally first.The Responsible Investment Committee is composed of representativesWe focused on diversity and inclusion from all of Mercias teams, includingfirst for two main reasons:investment, finance, operations,1. compliance and marketing. We believeDiverse teams make better decisions, that diverse representation within theas they are composed of a mix Responsible Investment Committeeof characters with different life encourages the organic disseminationexperience, whose perspectives can of its actions across all areas of ourstrengthen the decision-making business. Additionally, diversity withinprocess.2.The promotion of inclusion and the committee makes it a team that embodies inclusion while promoting it,representation is correlated with rather than it being a distanced bodyimproved performance, as people Success comesthat imposes rules from above.generally perform better when they from engaging withfeel a sense of belonging.Improving gender diversity within the diverse people,investment team was an early focus. Mercia has increased external hires and appointed partners andwomen from across the business into the possibilities. investment teams. Before the founding of the Responsible Investment Committee at the beginning of 2021, 17% of the investment team were women; as of March 2022, this has increased to 32%. The Responsible Investment Committee are further reviewing Mercias policies to ensure that they are inclusive to our LGBTQQIA+ colleagues. A current review is focusing on our maternity and paternity policies to ensure that they have the same applications for LGBTQQIA+ couples as heterosexual ones. Engagement with the portfolioMercia is now including an ESG questionnaire in all investment agreements listing various actions to be implemented as a condition of investment. This is designed to positively foster the principle of responsibility within each company that we invest in. We require each portfolio to establish ESG policies relevant to its activities, which could include an anti bribery and Melanie Reynolds corruption policy, a modern slavery Portfolio Executive policy, a diversity and inclusion policy,et cetera.'