74. Alison Horner presided over those remuneration and clawback policies. She joined the Carillion board as a NED in December 2013, and was appointed Chair of the RemCo in May 2014.263 She is also Chief People Officer at Tesco plc, where she has responsibilities for over 500,000 members of staff.264 When we challenged Ms Horner about the RemCo's decisions under her leadership, she stressed that shareholders were consulted on remuneration. She did not, however, mention to us any of the concerns that shareholders told us they had expressed.265 When we asked Ms Horner about large pay increases, she pointed to a decision to offer median pay, but did not offer any justification for further detaching pay from performance.266 When we sought Ms Horner's explanation for the company's weak clawback terms, she dismissed the concerns of the Institute of Directors and the FRC.267 She also showed no indication that she believed she had made any mistakes. Other than being "sorry for what has happened," she accepted no culpability as a long-serving member of the board.268
75. A non-executive director and chair of Carillion's remuneration committee for four years, Alison Horner presided over growing salaries and bonuses at the top of the company as its performance faltered. In her evidence to us, she sought to justify her approach by pointing to industry standards, the guidance of advisors, and conversations with shareholders. She failed to demonstrate to us any sense of challenge to the advice she was given, any concern about the views of stakeholders, or any regret at the largesse at the top of Carillion. Ms Horner continues to hold the role of Chief People Officer of Tesco, where she has responsibilities to more than half a million employees. We hope that, in that post, she will reflect on the lessons learned from Carillion and her role in its collapse.
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263 Carillion plc, Annual Report and Accounts 2014, p 37
264 Tesco plc, Executive committee, accessed 1 May 2018
265 Q618 [Alison Horner]; Q622 [Alison Horner]; Q625 [Alison Horner]
266 Q618 [Alison Horner]
267 Q641 [Alison Horner]
268 Q413 [Alison Horner]