John Lewis was invited to provide information in response to the following questions:

1. Confirm whether the investigation is complete and to disclose the findings if so; or, if the investigation is not yet complete, confirm when the results of the investigation are expected and whether findings will be made public;
2. Disclose whether and how John Lewis has made any changes to its human rights due diligence and monitoring processes in relation to its Jordan supply chain; and,
3. Outline any remediation it plans or has administered to workers following the allegations.

Response from John Lewis

Hi Isobel,

Thank you for contacting us about this. Worker welfare is really important to us, and we take these allegations very seriously. Please see a few background points below which I hope are helpful:

• We require all our suppliers, including brands, to be compliant with our Responsible Sourcing Code of Practice and expect that brands will be adequately managing their supply chains to protect their workers’ rights.
• Since learning of these concerning incidents, we have continued to remain in contact with both brands to understand more around the issue, including the investigations undertaken and subsequent steps to address the issues raised.
• As a result of the investigations that have been carried out, we understand that a joint programme of work is underway to address the concerns identified.
• We assume that you will be in touch directly with the brands who work more closely with the manufacturers, who’ll be best place to, but please be assured that we take these issues raised really seriously.

Given that a number of retailers will be stocked by both of these global brands, we would recommend that you contact the British Retail Consortium, who will be able to provide you with a response on the issue.