The Beef and Lamb Sector Board took place on Thursday 14th November
The Red Tractor executive confirmed that, following unanimous endorsement from the sector board members, my appointment as Sector chair had been extended for a second three year term in accordance with the company governance processes. I thanked board members and confirmed I am delighted to continue to do this role on behalf of the beef and lamb sector and look forward to working in collaboration with all representatives across the supply chain.
I reported that Sam Charlton the newly appointed Sector Director for AHDB Beef and Lamb had been appointed to the Red Tractor sector board and that the next meeting would be her first.
The meeting was particularly constructive and discussed the ambition of how the future of assurance in the Beef and Lamb sector should work. This included a comprehensive piece on Red Tractors member communication strategy, which the sector board found extremely encouraging. The largest part of the agenda discussed how assurance should work in the future and featured several projects looking at simplifying the farm assurance process, using technology and earned recognition from other statutory organisations, to help reduce audit burden.
The sector board also discussed at length how a standards refresh should progress to ensure that all stakeholders are fully engaged in the process. As part of this we reviewed the draft Terms of Reference of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), agreeing it was important to ensure transparent governance processes and that all TAC members must have the necessary technical and practical beef and lamb farming knowledge.
To ensure the sector board has adequate representation and knowledge from the processing sector and in particular the Export Markets it was agreed that we should seek to identify an appropriate candidate to serve on the Board. We also agreed that, since the ethnic sector is so important to the current and future sheep sector we should establish if there were any other individuals who may help inform our expertise in this area.
In summary, a very positive, progressive and motivational meeting which demonstrated a huge amount of work by the team and a very positive direction of travel.
Looking forward to keeping you informed of future developments.
Kind regards,
John Dracup,
Chair, Red Tractor Beef & Lamb Board
Members of the Beef and Lamb board:
David Morgan – NFU
Samantha Charlton – AHDB
Alice Liddle – BRC/Food Service
Zanna Dennis – Livestock Auctioneers Association
Bryan Griffiths – National Sheep Association
Rob Venner – National Beef Association
Phil Hambling – British Meat Processors Association
Henry Blain – Multiple Retailer
Natalie Smith – Multiple Retailer
Andrew Crutchley – BCVA
