FDF Key Wins for 2023

FDF Chief Executive, Karen Betts reappointed to the Board of Trade

In September 2023, Business and Trade Secretary and President of the Board of Trade, Kemi Badenoch has announced a refresh of the Board of Trade which includes CEOs from leading food and drink, education and creative industries.

We are pleased that Karen Betts has been reappointed to the board and will be working with the Department for Business and Trade to help identify and address export barriers and promote the UK brand to the world.

FDF have secured additional in-market support for UK exporters.

The government have taken forward proposals originally designed and consistently advocated by the FDF:

The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) are setting up a new F&D Export Council to improve coordination between government and industry.

DEFRA have employed F&D Trade Attachés to provide specialist in-market support for UK businesses trading overseas, posting 12 expert Attachés in priority markets.

DEFRA have committed to expand this model by recruiting a further five Attachés.

UK approach to rules of origin in all Free Trade Agreements (FTA) shaped by FDF.

Through the FDF’s Trade and Investment Strategy paper we published and ongoing work with officials in Defra and the Department of International Trade in June 2022, the FDF helped raise the government’s understanding of:

• The importance of rules of origin for the food and drink sector.
• The outcomes food and drink industry require to drive future growth.
• To create a more detailed Rules of Origin Paper, which looks to build on the 2018 paper (Based just on the EU).

FDF proposed solutions implemented by DEFRA for the recent Northern Ireland deal.

The FDF are now working closely with DEFRA to ensure implementation:

• Is flexible and uncomplicated for businesses.
• That labelling requirements are not extended on a UK-wide basis.

The FDF established as a key partner with Department for International Trade (DIT) and DEFRA, to help shape key outcomes in UK trade negotiations.

This partnership with DIT and DEFRA has led to frequent engagement for members with government’s chief negotiators via our International Trade Committee.

FDF recognised as the only organisation to correctly forecast inflation movement.

The Bank of England and HM Treasury have recognised that the FDF is the only organisation to correctly forecast that high inflation would be sustained.

Ministerial Co-Chair for the Sector Council secured by FDF for the first time.

The FDF also supported DEFRA with the appointment of a new Industry Co-Chair and new members, including food and drink manufacturing membership. 

The FDF have now set out clear changes needed for the Council to operate more effectively and are proactively working to implement these changes.

FDF benefit from privileged access to the DBT as trusted partner.

The FDF’s reputation for constructive input is fundamental to our active working relationship with the DBT.

This close relationship grants the FDF access to lead negotiators and senior officials, who regularly join our committee meetings and engage with our members.

FDF secure the opening of a second round for duty suspension applications.

The DBT have agreed to begin reforming the process to address concerns highlighted by FDF on behalf of its members.

• These concerns include, but are not limited to:
• Unpredictable and inconsistent timetables of duty suspension rounds
• Slow pace of processing applications
• Lack of transparency when it comes to rejected applications
• No clarity on existing duty suspensions

FDF help to ensure the GCA’s ongoing independence and unique focus on grocery retail.

After considering feedback from the FDF, the government have announced it will scrap its proposals to merge the GCA with the Competition and Markets Authority.

FDF advocacy sparks Government change regarding electricity generators in food and drink industry.

Under the UK Emissions Trading Scheme, several combined heat and power plants with ‘Good Quality’ certification in food and drink industry have been classified as electricity generators, therefore given a lower number of free allowances.

After engagement with the FDF, Government have acknowledged this classification is incorrect and will be rectifying this in the next free allocation round to create a level playing field between businesses.

FDF Scotland, with support from the Scottish Government, helping Scottish businesses to decarbonise.

FDF Scotland’s now runs the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership’s Net Zero project with £850,000 of support to date from the Scottish Government, which focuses on identifying shared issues and opportunities to decarbonise in the food and drink supply chain in Scotland.

To date it has supported work on refrigeration, malting barley and with several key businesses.

The programme puts the FDF in a prime position to influence both policy and delivery for Net Zero in Scotland

FDF help to shape the Independent Review into Labour Shortages in the Food Supply Chain.

Assistance from the FDF included:

• Sharing key evidence on the impacts of labour shortages.
• convening a member roundtable with the Chair of the Review, John Shropshire.
• Direct meetings with the Review team.

The final report was published on 30th June with recommendations including:

• Reforming the Apprenticeship Levy.
• Support Food Career Curriculum Delivery.
• Incentivising Automation.

The next steps for the FDF will be to press Government for a proactive response to this review.

FDF develop campaign to raise the profile of the food and drink industry in the UK with politicians and stakeholders.

The FDF successfully launched the ‘Powers our Nation’ campaign to help the industry start to talk about the positive impact they have on communities, health & people.

FDF launch Innovation Gateway for all food and drink manufacturers.

The Food and Drink Innovation Gateway has Ministerial support and backing from both DEFRA and Innovate UK.

The first companies are currently using the Gateway to work with the High Value Manufacturing Catapult centres and universities on several business optimisation projects.

FDF develop new EU/GB/NI regulation divergence trackers for FDF members.

The new EU/GB/NI regulation divergence trackers cover a range of key areas of food law from additives to labelling, providing FDF members with advice and guidance on:

• The complicated changing regulatory requirements across the UK.
• How these differ from the EU.

FDF launch a twice-yearly regulatory update webinar.

The regulatory update webinar is accessible to companies of all sizes and provides a succinct overview of key changes in food safety and food labelling regulation.

FDF also held a training and networking session focused on Food Safety Culture with Professor Robin May, Chief Scientific Adviser at the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

FDF guidance on change management of allergen information published.

FDF’s new guidance is aimed at small businesses in particular and outlines the actions a food business operator (FBO) should consider when managing changes that impact the allergen labelling on pre-packaged products.

The guidance also includes a foreword from the FSA’s Chair Prof Susan Jebb.

The FDF and FDF Scotland successfully prevent the use terms ‘ultra-processed food’ (UPF) and ‘minimally processed’ in government documentation.

FDF Scotland's engagement with the Scottish Government ensured the prevention of the term 'ultra-processed food’ [UPF] being used in the Good Food Nation bill.

The FDF’s engagement with Department of Health and Social Care officials also resulted in the removal of the reference to ‘minimally processed’ in the HFSS promotions guidance.

More recently, the FDF welcomed a balanced perspective on UPF in the media from former DEFRA secretary of state George Eustice, following briefing with the FDF Corporate Affairs team.

Long term commitment to influencing devolved governments.

The FDF has exceptional relationships with the Scottish Government and Parliament, including:

• Our annual parliamentary reception.
• Providing secretariat for the Scottish Parliament’s Cross-Party Group on Food.

FDF Scotland is an active partner in the Scotland Food & Drink Partnership working supporting the development of and work on our shared Scottish industry strategy.

The Scottish Government supports FDF Scotland on several projects by providing grant funding for our Future in Food, Reformulation for Health and Net Zero work.

In Wales, the FDF continues to build our relationships with the Senedd and Welsh Government including:

• Meeting with Members of the Senedd to discuss critical issues like deposit return and promotions restriction.
• Engaging with the Welsh Government regularly at ministerial and civil servant level.
• Being an active partner in Food 7 Cymru which brings together FDF with other food and drink supply chain representatives on key issues.

FDF celebrate the first year of Action on Fibre.

Action on Fibre is a working partnership between the FDF and 25 brands to bridge the gap between fibre intakes and the dietary recommendation.

In the first year we have achieved fantastic results:

• Delivering 7.2 billion more servings of fibre to the population.
• 143 new products and 33 reformulated products brought to market.

FDF Scotland, supported by the Scottish Government, help businesses to reformulate products to lower fat salt and sugar.

• Over £240,000 has been made available to SME manufacturers to help drive successful reformulation projects through five separately delivered funds.
• Since the launch of the Reformulation for Health programme in 2019, FDF Scotland have helped to fund 67 projects across the breadth of Scotland to improve the health of their products and communities.