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In 2008, we have further aligned our corporate social responsibility strategy with our business priorities. For example, we have a new partnership with A4e, an organisation involved in delivering generic financial advice on behalf of the government. A4e has been working closely with our Financial Adviser Academy to develop training programmes to help advisers to deal with and offer advice on the issues surrounding getting people out of debt, through financial neutrality and then back into saving again.
Risk management continues to be at the heart of Legal & General's business and this work has a highly commercial focus. But our risk analysis regularly examines the potential impact of social and environmental issues, such as climate change or healthcare developments.
It increasingly informs and is informed by our engagement with non-governmental agencies, such as the International Longevity Centre and the ABI's ClimateWise initiative. We embed good CSR practices in our investment-management business through our dealings with the companies in which we hold shares.
During 2008, LGIM held over 120 meetings with investee companies to discuss issues relating to quality of corporate governance, social, environmental or ethical issues. LGIM has also worked in partnership with Business in the Community as they develop the case for CSR in the investment-management business. BITC research, which we sponsored, supports the idea that companies which actively manage their risk and reputation with their stakeholders outperforms in total shareholder return — a good argument for encouraging best practice in CSR amongst our investees.
We continue to value our membership of indices, like the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, FTSE4Good and the Business in the Community CR Index, which recognises and challenges us on the commitment to being a responsible company.