Annual Review 2010: Promoting a British Success Story
Championing the food and drink sector
Communications remains at the heart of FDF's work. With a Coalition
Government
and a Parliament in which newly elected MPs made up a third of the members,
effective political engagement has been vital. We have forged relationships
with
new
Secretaries of State, Ministers and their Shadows, Chairs of Select Committees,
key backbenchers and other players in Westminster and Whitehall to make sure
that
industry's voice is heard in important debates.
We have also continued to build and
strengthen relationships with officials across key departments including BIS;
the
Treasury; DEFRA; DH and the Department for Energy and Climate Change.
In Parliament, we stepped up our engagement with a range of activities to raise
awareness of our sector's importance and the issues we face. Key events
included
a breakfast briefi ng for new MPs in June and our very well attended Summer
Parliamentary Reception.
We provided the secretariat for the newly reformed All-Party Parliamentary Food
and
Drink Manufacturing Group, which is an important forum for debate and dialogue
about issues related to our sector. John Stevenson MP is the new Chair of the
Group
and has led successful events on the future of the industry and the image of
the
sector. The APPG continues to be a focus for 2011, helping us build advocates
whilst
ensuring that parliamentarians are informed about our issues.
We organised and were involved in a record number of fringe events at all three
annual political party conferences. FDF teamed up with manufacturers to promote
the economic importance of our sector and Director General Melanie Leech
appeared on a panel with Business Secretary Vince Cable MP. We also worked
closely with food chain partners the National Farmers' Union and the British
Retail
Consortium as well as WWF and the GMB Union. The Groceries Code Adjudicator
was the topic for a private dinner with Conservative MPs.
Other activities that support our communications work include the annual
President's
Dinner and our annual Community Partnership Awards, showcasing the tremendous
contribution that our sector makes to local communities across the land. In
2010
we
introduced the fi rst FDF President's Award for 'the best of the best'.
We generated strongly favourable media coverage for our four key pillars through
developing opportunities for positive coverage and building relationships with
journalists. The business media was a particular focus, supporting our ambition
to
be recognised as the UK's largest manufacturing sector and employer. In
December
2010, FDF published figures from its first business confidence survey – we
see this
as a key tool for the future, issued every quarter to media to provide a
barometer of
industry confidence.
We also regularly engage with social media in particular through Twitter. This
has
been well received by stakeholders and the media and helps us refer traffic to
our website.
Next page: Enhancing service for members
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