• Involve 270 staff in community programmes as part of their development during 2008, through ScottishPower Learning

Overall Community Investment

ScottishPower use the London Benchmarking Group model to evaluate community support activities. The model allows companies to report community contributions and achievements by measuring the total impact on communities rather than financial contributions alone. The LBG is the standard for community reporting adopted by almost 120 companies in the UK.

Our input to the model is reviewed by the London Benchmarking Group annually to ensure we are applying its principles correctly and consistently.

During 2007, ScottishPower contributed £4.9 million (2006/07 £4.6 million) in community support activities in the UK, of which £2.84 million was contributed to registered charitable organisations.

The total consisted of £1.58 million categorised by the LBG model as charitable gifts, £3.1 million classed as community investment and £230,250 categorised as commercial initiatives, given in cash, through staff time and in-kind donations.

Analysis of Community Investment

Community Investment Strategy

Two years ago we decided to align our community investment strategy with our business strategy and focus on a common theme – helping young people. Each of our businesses concentrate their community investment programmes on areas that fit naturally with their business strategy and day-to-day activities:

Education and Employability

ScottishPower Learning

ScottishPower Learning provides employability training for young, disadvantaged people in our local communities.

Since its inception in 1996, the venture has helped nearly 15,000 young people. The positive, long term impact of ScottishPower Learning’s work was recognised in July with a Silver Jubilee Award from Business in the Community, as well as several Big Ticks across its range of programmes.

Delivering programmes in three distinct areas, school based, community based and work based, during 2007 over 1,500 young people benefited from ScottishPower Learning’s programmes.

School-Based Programmes designed to help pupils prepare for the world of work by gaining a better understanding of the skills required. Our support concentrates on schools in deprived areas and links in with Government education strategy.

During 2007 926 pupils participated in a range of programmes, including School to Work, Young Managers and Looking Forward to Work.

In recognition of the success of the School to Work programme, Business in the Community awarded a Big Tick in the Merrill Lynch Raising Achievement in Young People category.

Community Based Programmes designed to help unemployed young people build their skills in preparation for work. Community based projects include:

• We have an ongoing relationship as a Delivery Partner for The Prince’s Trust Team programme. During 2007, ScottishPower Learning celebrated the 10th anniversary of its partnership with The Prince’s Trust in Scotland and delivered its 100th Team programme in Scotland and also in our Merseyside and north Wales area. In this decade, more than 2,500 young people participated in the programmes. In 2007, we facilitated 16 Prince’s Trust Team programmes involving 214 young people

• Continued to support Community Champions awards and recognition sponsorship, which honours community achievers in Merseyside and north Wales

• Our sponsorship of Project Scotland – an initiative that connects young Scots with full-time volunteering opportunities continued

Work Based Programmes – designed to provide young people with vocational training, high quality work placements and nationally recognised qualifications.

During 2007, 60 young people benefited from our Skillseeker programme. The programme’s success rate has continued to improve over the last three years with more than 80% of participants moving into sustainable employment. To date over 1,300 school leavers have benefited from the programme

The Big Tick in the Investing in Education category that the Skillseeker programme received from Business in the Community in 2006, was reaccredited in 2007.

Staff Development in the Community

ScottishPower Learning supports the development of employees by providing unique and inspirational community based activities. These experiential opportunities have a lasting impact for all those who participate. During 2007, 199 employees participated in Community Based Development (CBD).

Now as an integral part of ScottishPower Development, ScottishPower Learning provides a range of innovative community development interventions designed to support employee development. Examples include:-

• Team leading skills through our Prince’s Trust and Skillseeker Programmes
• Leadership skills through Business in the Community’s Partners in Leadership Programme
• Enterprising skills as a mentor with Young Enterprise
• Presentation skills through our Young Managers Programme
• Interpersonal skills as a Prince’s Trust Development Awards Assessor
• Hundreds of ScottishPower staff participate in Community Based Development Programmes each year (199 in 2007)

Community Based Development provides opportunities for employees to engage with a cross section of the communities we serve. Raising staff awareness helps the company understand the diverse needs of its customers.

Community Based Development is not just focussing on the development of individual employees as we are also providing opportunities for teams from across ScottishPower to engage in community activities. Working on a community project can help develop teamwork and can act as an opportunity for cross departmental working. Employees say that working with their colleagues in a new environment is an excellent way to develop team spirit and gain an understanding of a range of social issues.

EnergyNetworks staff participated in the ‘Grow Your Own Workforce’ project, a partnership project between ScottishPower, United Utilities and the North West Development Agency, which encourages children in North West England to consider a career in engineering.

During the year ScottishPower Renewable Energy launched an industry-leading Teacher’s Windfarm Support Pack and DVD to provide students with a visit to a windfarm and background information, as part of the curriculum studies, about renewable energy. Initially, the pack was aimed at schools near Black Law Windfarm in Lanarkshire but the pack has now been rolled out across the UK.

ScottishPower sponsors the National Theatre of Scotland, Transform project which is a collaborative project with ScottishPower Learning, Determined to Succeed (an organisation who develop enterprise in education) and local authorities that allows Schools of Ambition to transform their approaches to learning. By bringing these schools together with top theatre professionals, communities and groups of local primary schools, the partnerships produce a high impact theatre event that uses the local environment as a backdrop to tell compelling stories. Transform allows schools and creative communities to transform their approaches to learning.

Public Safety

Public safety is the key issue that drives EnergyNetwork’s community programme. We recognise that World Class Health and Safety should not be restricted to the confines of our workplace. Due to the very nature of our business we must be responsible for managing public safety.

PowerWise, our safety education initiative is driven by three specific programmes:

PowerWise Classroom Education Programme

Formerly “Be Safe with ScottishPower”, this is a pioneering safety education programme teaching primary school children aged four to eleven years the potential dangers of electricity in the home and outdoors environment. The programme is taught by qualified school teachers and is linked in with the school curriculum in our operating areas across Scotland, England and Wales. In 2007, 339 teaching days were utilised, reaching 55,260 pupils from more than 300 schools.

A PowerWise resource pack, full of lesson plans, activities and all the resources needed for primary schools to conduct their own electricity safety lesson are provided free of charge to schools which have received the classroom education programme and on request via the website. In 2007, 379 resource packs were issued, 69 of these as direct telephone requests or via the PowerWise website.

The PowerWise website, at www.powerwise.org.uk is packed with lesson plans, interactive games and electricity information that both teachers and parents can use. In July the website was extended and now caters for secondary school children, as well as primary school children. There were over 38,000 hits to the website in 2007.

Safety Education Centres

Support is given to three innovative, dedicated safety education centres operated by local public authorities within ScottishPower’s network areas. Centres are based at Priesthill in Glasgow; DangerPoint in North Wales; and a new centre called The Risk Factory in Edinburgh, which opened in January 2007. Designed to educate and raise awareness of accidents, injury prevention and personal safety, in a safe and controlled environment, these centres provide realistic settings, specifically designed for children and young people, as a background for safety education through hands on experiences in the home, on the roads, at the farm or in the country, and on building sites.

During the year,

• 6,998 children visited DangerPoint
• 4,599 visited The Risk Factory
• 3,151 visited Priesthill before its closure in June.

It is proposed that a new centre will open in Glasgow in autumn 2008 and EnergyNetworks will provide both financial and material support for the new venture.

Crucial Crew

Crucial Crew is a national experiential learning event where children take part in a range of fast-paced scenarios designed to raise awareness of the dangers of electricity and other common hazards.

Last year EnergyNetworks presented key safety messages to more than 10,000 children at eight Crucial Crew events across the UK. One of the highlights in 2007, was the ‘Safe in the Park’ learning event, which reached 1,226 primary pupils from 24 East Renfrewshire schools and provided information about the dangers of electricity, as well as transport, water, alcohol and drugs.

EnergyNetworks fought off fierce competition to claim the National IOSH Zurich Municipal Supreme Safety Award in recognition of outstanding contributions to public sector health and safety in September 2007.

In October 2007, the DuPont International Safety Awards recognised PowerWise as the one of the most significant projects in safety and awarded EnergyNetworks winners in the Innovative Approach category.

Industrial safety

As well as schools, EnergyNetworks provides electrical safety information and educational events to the public, including high-risk industrial sectors, such as farming, agriculture and leisure; and contractor associations and trade bodies.

We recognise that electricity can present a potential hazard to other industries and have sent targeted mailshots/booklets to 509 trade groups and associations including local authority planners, agricultural groups, universities, boating and yachting marinas, leisure aircraft users and balloonists. For the first time in 2007, to increase the mediums used to deliver the safety messages, EnergyNetworks staff also sent out 308 ‘e-shots’ ,by email, to key target groups, to provide information and link in with the safety section of its website.

Our staff also visited 79 recreational sites in our home territories, such as fisheries, camp sites and marinas, where a potential risk had been identified from overhead lines and/or ScottishPower equipment, and carried out discussions and dissemination of safety literature.

Energy Retail participated in, the ’Building Safer Communities Conference’ in Glasgow organised by Strathclyde Police in July 2007. The seminar was aimed at volunteers and organisations who care for vulnerable people and staff from Energy Retail, the only external company at the event, delivered a presentation on the steps taken to ensure our 900 field workers or representatives act with honesty and integrity. For more information, see the case study on our website.

Longannet Power Station and four of its key contractors continued to sponsor a vehicle used by Community Police in West Fife. The venture has been highly praised by Fife Constabulary and enables Community Police officers to instigate campaigns aims at promoting public safety and security. In November 2007, the partnership announced it would continue its sponsorship for a further three years.

For more information on our public safety initiatives, see the Community Section of our website.

Science

ScottishPower is a business built on science and technology so it makes real business sense for us to support initiatives that encourage a greater interest and understanding of science among young people. During 2007 we supported an exciting range of interactive science projects across the UK. These included:

• Primary school pupils from all over Scotland got the chance to learn about science and energy as part of the Edinburgh International Science Festival’s touring education programme. – Generation Science. ScottishPower sponsored the programme of 17 shows aimed at entertaining youngsters in the 7 to 11 age group, seen by more than 62,000 children from the Highlands to the Borders. For more information, see the Community Section of our website
• We continued to support the ScottishPower Planetarium at Glasgow Science Centre which aims to inspire, educate and motivate people by switching them on to science. ScottishPower has sponsored the ScottishPower Planetarium – one of the best equipped planetariums in the UK since 2001. Each day 15 presenters, supplemented by guest speakers from the world of science, deliver five shows. It has around 70,000 visitors each year, giving them the opportunity to explore the planets and the solar system within a 15 metre dome. For more information, see the Community Section of our website
• ScottishPower Renewable Energy sponsored the Royal Meteorological Society annual student conference, which took place at Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, in September 2007

Energy Efficiency

Energy Retail’s community sponsorships are designed to help children of all ages become more energy efficient.

• We supported participation in sport through our sponsorship of Scottish Athletics and the Scottish Schools Athletics Association. Under the “Energising Scotland’s Youth” banner, we encourage children to switch off their televisions, computers and hi-fis and take part in sport instead. Our funding provides sports clinics, enabling young athletes to train with support from national champions, and supports athletics’ meetings.

  More than 10,000 young athletes were put through their paces at a series of events, including the ScottishPower National Cross Country Championships at Falkirk’s Callendar Park, the Secondary School Indoor Championships at Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall International Sports Arena, the Celtic Cup Youth Festival at Grangemouth Stadium and primary and secondary schools cross country events. For more information, see our “Powering the Athletics Champs of Tomorrow” case study

• We continued our sponsorship of the North Welsh Rugby Union’s youth rugby development for an eighth year. Through the ’Powering a New Generation’ initiative, we help fund centres of excellence in Mid and North Wales to foster new talent and support summer camps, a healthy eating project and leagues for teenage players
• Read for the Future campaign with Friends of the Earth is not only encouraging children to switch off electrical gadgets in favour of reading, but is helping to improve literacy standards and raising money for energy efficiency projects. For more information, see Read for the Future case study
• Energy Retail teamed up with local radio station Clyde 1 to celebrate Scotland’s National Green Day and raise awareness of energy efficiency. We gave away two energy-saving light bulbs to the first 500 visitors to our Green Day exhibition stand and ran a radio campaign to highlight energy saving tips

Environment

• ScottishPower, as Scottish Business in the Community Large Company of the Year, sponsored The Prince of Wales's May Day Business Summit on Climate Change in Edinburgh on 7 November 2007. This event followed the inaugural event in England in May
  2007 and was unique in its emphasis on action. Companies were asked to make firm commitments to reduce their carbon emissions, leading Scotland to a low carbon economy, working not only in their companies, but with their employees, suppliers and customers.
  Over 100 of Scotland's top business leaders pledged to take action on climate change
• ScottishPower sponsored the Carbon Neutral Climate Dome, a six-metre inflatable Dome which tours around the region and aims to raise awareness of the climate change message among people who may never previously have given the matter much thought. Climate Dome aims to make the complicated subject of climate change simple, local relevant and immediate and asks people to make a written pledge to cut their carbon emissions
• ScottishPower sponsored WWF’s Local Footprints project helping schools and local authorities cut their environmental impact. The Local Footprints project builds on innovative work already achieved in Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and in North Lanarkshire looking at how we can live well, and still live within our environmental limits
• ScottishPower Renewable Energy funded environmental improvements at St Patrick's Primary School in Shotts, North Lanarkshire, near Black Law Windfarm. The grant was used to fund a project to improve the school grounds undertaken in consultation with the council and RSPB. The project included safety improvements (a stream flows through the school grounds), ground levelling, the creation of new pathways and habitat enhancements through planting trees and shrubs and installing nest boxes
• ScottishPower Renewable Energy provided funding via The Prince of Wales Trust to Pont Bren, a group of farmers located north of Powys. The group previously received funding from ScottishPower to restore hedgerows, woodland and meadows on their land, creating environmental benefits such as improved carbon storage and reduced soil erosion. This year’s grant funded marketing expertise to help the farmers secure a deal with a major supermarket chain for their produce
• ScottishPower Renewable Energy sponsored Llanidloes Community Energy Fair. Llanidloes is a community near Powys that aims to be carbon neutral. The annual Community Energy Fair took place in October 2007 to highlight energy conservation and small scale renewables
• ScottishPower Renewable Energy provided funding for a small, Proven wind turbine at Forth Primary School, which is close to Black Law Windfarm. We previously funded a polytunnel greenhouse which was used by the school to grow plants for the Scotland in Bloom competition

Green Energy Trust

During 2007 the Green Energy Trust funded 16 small-scale renewable energy projects throughout the UK, totalling £200,963. The Trust’s projects, many of them in schools, help educate people about the benefits of renewable energy while saving them money on fuel bills.

The positive impact these projects have on local communities was recognised in 2007 when the Green Energy Trust was reaccredited with a Big Tick from Business in the Community in its annual awards scheme. Here is a selection of some projects supported in 2007:

• The Trust helped with the restoration of a 15 Century stable block at Castlemilk House, Glasgow, which was once visited by Mary Queen of Scots. Trust funding provided a ground source heat pump system, which recycles heat energy from the ground to warm the building. The historic site is now owned by the community through the Cassiltoun Trust
• Funding from the Trust enabled the Earthship Fife Visitor Centre to install energy meters to highlight the amount of renewable energy used at the attraction. Attracting 4,000 visitors each year, the Earthship, the only one of its kind in the UK, is entirely self sufficient
• Glenkens Community and Arts Trust in New Galloway has installed a wood-pellet biomass boiler to heat the building thanks to a £20,000 grant from the Green Energy Trust. The former school has been transformed by volunteers as a hub for the entire community
• The Trust supported New Cumnock swimmers by awarding £20,000 to install a heat-store air pump to heat their outdoor swimming pool for the first time. The energy efficient system is also helping reduce the energy bills for the community-owned pool
• Partick Housing Association residents are benefiting from warmer homes and lower fuel bills after a £18,000 grant from the Trust helped provide energy efficient features at their Crathie Drive building. The new-build flats are insulated with wool and feature a water tank pre-heated by a solar panel

The Trust celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2008 and is on course to deliver funding worth £1 million to 100 different projects.

Community Consultation

We consult closely with communities early on in our development process for new projects, such as windfarms or upgrades to power lines, to ensure local people have an opportunity to comment on and input into our designs. In the last year, many of the key new developments we embarked upon were onshore windfarms. Before entering the formal planning process, we began extensive consultation with stakeholders, in particular those in the local community. This consultation continued throughout the planning process and beyond.

Here is a summary of the events undertaken by our Renewables business in 2007:

Hare Hill Windfarm extension, East Ayrshire, Scotland

• Cumnock Town Hall - Post application exhibitions
• Kirkonnel - Post application exhibitions
• New Cumnock - Post application exhibitions
• Sanquhar - Post application exhibitions

P & L Windfarm, Powys, Wales

• Powys - 3 exhibitions

Blacklaw Windfarm, Lanarkshire, Scotland

• 3 formal community consultation meetings
• 3 meetings with Community Development Trust
• 4 meetings with the Women’s Rural Institute
• 5 school visits
• 9 visits to Black Law with Community Groups, Schools and Colleges

Whitelee Windfarm, South of Glasgow, Scotland

• 2 meetings with the Women’s Rural Institute
• 3 school visits

Dersalloch and Arecleoch windfarms, South Ayrshire, Scotland

• Carrick, 2 joint meetings with all Community Councils for Dersalloch and Arecleoch
• 2 community meetings for Dersalloch
• 2 community meetings for Arecleoch

Wether Hill Windfarm, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland

• 2 school visits (Moniaive Primary School and Penpont Primary School)

General Community Consultations

• 6 meetings with local Women’s Rural Institute, Round Table, Probus etc
• 10 meetings with local schools
• 3 schools careers events (18 schools in all)

EnergyNetworks held public meetings and spoke to community groups in respect of several proposed works on overhead lines and new grid connections. These included:

Manweb area (Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales)

• Legacy Oswestry 132 kV Overhead Line Modernisation (OHL)
• Rhyl Flats Windfarm
• Tirgwynt Windfarm

Scotland

• Ewe Hill Windfarm - Newfield Windfarm 132 kV OHL grid connection
• Devol Moor - Erskine 132 kV OHL
• Earlshaugh Windfarm 132 kV OHL
• Arecleoch and Markshill Windfarm 132 kV OHL
• Harrows Law Windfarm Community Council meeting
• Langholm Community meeting(s) for the Craig Windfarm connection
• Dollar Community Council meeting for Greenknowes Windfarm Connection

Another major ScottishPower project advanced in 2007 was plans for a custom-built biomass-to-energy plant at Longannet Power Station in Fife. The project team instigated a Community Engagement Programme that involved public exhibitions, meetings with local community councils, and the distribution of leaflets and newsletters.

The Programme was successful in addressing the questions and concerns of communities near Longannet. Feedback from the Community Engagement Programme, along with responses to a Scoping Report issued to other key stakeholders, was used to help develop the design of the biomass plant and complete an environmental impact assessment. The development successfully gained planning consent from Fife Council in December 2007.

At major sites close to communities, such as Longannet and Cockenzie power stations, we have established Local Liaison Committees that meet regularly to discuss topics of mutual interest. At these sites, we have close links with the local community.

Visitor Centres

We also have visitor centres at several of our sites – Cruachan Power Station’s centre, near Oban, which is open all year round is particularly successful and welcomes over 60,000 visitors each year . A new visitor centre is planned at our Whitelee Windfarm. For more information on our Visitor Centre's see community section of our website.

Arts Sponsorship

Celtic Connections

ScottishPower is principal sponsor of Celtic Connections, which has over 100,000 attendees per annum, takes place over 19 days during January. Fifteen venues across Glasgow host the series of 47 free and 220 paid for events. Over 1,500 musicians and singers from all over the world took part.

The Celtic Connections Education Programme is also a huge success, with 15,000 school children – many experiencing live music for the first time – benefiting from a series of 10 school concerts at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. Sixty free workshops also took place in schools.

ScottishPower Pipe Band

Our award winning pipe band continues to be among the top 10 in the world. Over the years the band has won European and British titles, and twice achieved second place in the World Championship.

Peter Pan

In December we supported performances of Peter Pan at the Citizen’s Theatre, Glasgow, making the arts more accessible to everyone, particularly the young.

In total, 24,500 people attended performances of the classic story, based on the play by J.M. Barrie.

An educational support programme run by the Citizens’ TAG Theatre Company gave 1,200 nursery and primary school children a free workshop and tickets to see the production for only £1. Many local school groups attended the pantomime and a number of ScottishPower employees’ children took part in the theatre workshops.

Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) School Proms

The RSNO School Proms engages those already interested in music and reaches out to young people who have never had the opportunity to become involved with music as a creative, expressive art form.

A total of 103 schools took part in the education programme, which was aimed at children in primary six and seven. Royal Scottish National Orchestra musicians held 134 hour-long musical workshops, and six teacher training sessions.

Following the workshops, 4,228 children attended three concerts performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Since this sponsorship started in 1997, it has reached over 70,000 young people in over 1,500 schools and delivered more than 2,300 workshops. The workshops and prom makes music accessible, interesting and fun for all.

Edinburgh International Book Festival

The sponsorship of the Edinburgh International Book Festival supports literacy workshops and outreach work that boosts literacy, confidence and personal development in young people. This is the first year we have sponsored a venue - The ScottishPower Studio Theatre.

The event, held over 17 days at Charlotte Square Gardens during August, brings together 800 authors, philosophers, poets and entertainers from 40 countries in an extravaganza of books, lectures, workshops, children’s events and live music. The 2007 Book Festival attracted more than 200,000 visitors

For more information on any of our Arts sponsorships, go to the community section of our website.