Annual Report and Accounts 2009/10 Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board Annual Report and Accounts 2009/10 Presented to Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly pursuant to Article 13 of The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board Order 2008 Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 01 July 2010 HC 49 London: The Stationery Office £27.25 SG 2010/94 © Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board 2010. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including by photocopy or storage in any medium by electronic means) or any copy or adaptation stored, published or distributed (by physical, electronic or other means) without the prior permission in writing of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, other than by reproduction in an unmodified form for the sole purpose of use as an information resource when the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board is clearly acknowledged as the source, or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. AHDB (logo) is a registered trademark of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board. All other trademarks, logos and brand names contained in this publication are the trademarks of their respective holders. No rights are granted without the prior written permission of the relevant owners. ISBN: 9780102966510 Printed in the UK by The Stationery Office Limited on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office ID 2370051 07/10 Printed on paper containing 75% recycled fibre content minimum. Contents AHDB Chairman’s statement 4 AHDB Chief Executive’s report 5 AHDB sector reports BPEX Division report: English Pig Sector 9 DairyCo Division report: GB Milk Sector 14 EBLEX Division report: English Beef and Lamb Sector 19 HDC Division report: GB Horticulture Sector 24 HGCA Division report: UK Cereals and Oilseeds Sector 29 Potato Council Division report: GB Potato Sector 36 Meat and Livestock Commercial Services Limited report 42 Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2010 Financial review of the year 46 Statement of the Board’s and Chief Executive’s responsibilities 47 Statement on internal control 2009/10 47 Remuneration report 52 Audit certificate and report 60 Consolidated income and expenditure account 61 Consolidated statement of changes in reserves 62 AHDB statement of changes in reserves 64 Consolidated statement of financial position 65 AHDB statement of financial position 66 Consolidated statement of cash-flow 67 AHDB statement of cash-flow 68 Notes to the financial statements 69 Committees, levy rates and office About AHDB 106 AHDB Board, statutory committees and sector boards 107 Levy rates for 2009/10 109 Registered office 110 Second Annual Report to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Scottish Ministers, Welsh Ministers and Northern Ireland Ministers, and Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2010. Auditors: Comptroller and Auditor General, National Audit Office, 157-197 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 9SP AHDB Chairman’s statement 2009/10 has been another eventful year for both AHDB and our industry sectors. Our restructuring programme, started in 2008/09, The Board has been supported throughout the year by a progressed at an exhilarating pace. By mid Summer we dedicated and very hard-working Senior Executive Team, had moved to our new home at Stoneleigh, Warwickshire. which has had to ensure that the change programme Bringing our main office-based staff on to one site was remained on course whilst maintaining high standards a major logistical challenge, but was achieved while in service delivery. Every day of the year has been a maintaining the high level of service delivery our levy challenge, resources have been stretched and our payers deserve and expect. This is an enormous testament infrastructure tested to the limit, but all our employees to the resilience and determination of all our employees have displayed a resourcefulness and energy which bodes and the high level of support which has come through the well for the future. AHDB Board. At year end we said goodbye to Kevin Roberts as our Chief Some 150 employees chose not to relocate to Stoneleigh Executive and welcomed Tom Taylor as his replacement. and the Board and I thank them for their past dedication and Those who formed the core of the Transition Team have also work. Replacements were successfully recruited and this moved on. That team was always small, but highly effective has brought fresh ideas and new faces into AHDB, from and our collective thanks must go to all those who have which we will continue to benefit in the years to come. steered us to where we are now. The external environment within which we operate We have continued to receive support from our key continues to be challenging. As was largely accepted last stakeholders during the year. Many have shared our vision, year, a rising world population, rising standards of living and which has made our task that much easier, but we do changes in dietary requirements are going to result in very recognise that the challenges that lie in the future will only significant increases in the demand for food – a doubling be successfully addressed through concerted action. from the current level over the next forty years. On the supply side the need to reduce greenhouse gases, the John Bridge, Chairman, need to protect the environment and the need to conserve Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board key inputs such as land, water and soils means we will have to produce more from less. It is encouraging to report that AHDB is increasingly being recognised as a major player in developing the agenda and the means to respond to this very challenging future scenario. The AHDB Board understands well the challenges we face and has worked tirelessly throughout the year to develop the framework we need to deliver the services to levy payers that will make a difference; services that will support productivity growth and ensure the long-term profitability of agricultural and horticultural production. The Board met six times during the year and held a strategy day in July 2009 to define and develop the framework upon which the three year Corporate Plan has been developed. The Board worked through its Standing Committees and more specialised time-limited committees (covering for instance the staff relocation programme and the new building at Stoneleigh) to very good effect. I am also happy to report that the strong links with the Sector Boards have been pivotal in delivering the services we do. At the end of the year we held a conference for all our Sector Board members to discuss future strategy and performance. 4 Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board AHDB Chief Executive’s report This is our second Annual Report and Accounts and it records a period of very significant organisational change as we co-located our main office-based employees from five locations to Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire and started to bed down the new structure. This was a challenging process for our employees and and commitment demonstrated by the teams involved. management team but the business benefits have been I would particularly like to acknowledge the work of the immediate in terms of starting to deliver some of the forecast IT team for the prolonged period of seven day weeks and annual cost savings. Efficiency savings are also starting to be late nights they put in to ensure that the IT aspects of the realised along with the first early examples of cross-sector relocation programme went as smoothly as possible. work on issues and projects, which will increase during the year ahead. The new telephone system was slightly more problematic with intermittent faults occurring over a number of weeks; Kevin Roberts was Chief Executive and Accounting Officer this was ultimately resolved with BT identifying an throughout the 2009/10 financial year and I took up this post installation error. at the beginning of May 2010. Another significant IT-related project was to migrate all the Our restructuring and relocation financial systems onto a single tried and tested software platform including an integrated payroll and HR system. Better co-operation and collaboration, along with £3.5 million The payroll aspects were delivered on time and without in annual savings, were key outcomes from the levy board issue in April 2009. However, the most challenging aspect restructuring process identified in the business case written of work was the transfer of financial processes from legacy for Defra by Accenture in 2007. I’m pleased to report that platforms. There was an underestimation of the sheer we are well on the way to delivering these, and more. quantity of transactions along with the time needed to get many of the finance team fully up to speed on the new During the previous financial year the Board had taken system. This led to some backlogs and delays which took a the decision to separate the relocation of all office-based considerable time to clear fully. This had a knock-on effect employees to Stoneleigh from the new building timetable on the timetable to embed all of the finance system features in order to remove uncertainty for employees, maintain into some divisional operations, and this was only completed momentum in the change programme and drive forward during the final quarter. the cost and efficiency benefits that would come from co-location. The introduction of a new financial system at the same time as a reorganisation, large scale change of personnel and Temporary office accommodation at Stoneleigh Park relocation ideally would have been avoided. However, it was was leased from the Royal Agricultural Society of England.