A third of companies are still to mitigate supply chain risk, according to ICSA: The Governance Institute.

ICSA’s Bellwether Summer 2017 survey of FTSE 350 companies asked, “has your board actively sought to review its supply chain risks, including modern slavery and corruption issues?” Seventeen percent said they had but needed external help. Eight percent said they had reviewed the issue and were unsure how to proceed.

The majority – 66% – are happy they have mitigated their supply chain risk. The number of companies saying they have reviewed supply chain risk in light of recent ant-corruption and anti-slavery laws is up to 91% from 56% in 2016.

“All businesses are under a legal obligation to be able to check and verify the robustness of their supply chains,” Dr Ian Livsey, Chief Executive, IRM says in the report. “It is imperative that businesses consider supply chain risks as part of their enterprise wide business models.”

News on the UK economy is less upbeat. Just 5% of respondents say they expect economic conditions in the UK to improve over the next 12 months, down from 8% in winter 2016 and 13% a year ago.

Over two-thirds (69%) predict a decline in the UK economy, consistent with 72% in winter last year. That represents a massive drop in confidence compared with the results of last summer’s survey which was carried out in the weeks leading up to the EU referendum. Then, only a quarter of respondents expected the position to get worse, although a further quarter stated that future prospects were dependent on the outcome of the vote.