Note of NSSG telephone conference 28 November 2007

Deirdre Hutton – Chair for conference call
Dawn Primarolo – Minister for Public Health and Chair of Nutrition Strategy Steering Group (NSSG)
Sue Duncan – Project Management Panel (PMP) Chair
Sir Alexander Macara – Chair, National Heart Forum
David Reid – Chairman, Tesco
Salman Amin - President PepsiCo (UK and Ireland)
Steven Esom – Director of Food, Marks & Spencer
David Cheesewright – Chief Operating Officer, Asda
Justin King – Chief Executive Sainsbury’s

Claire Boville and Rosemary Hignett were also in attendance to take a note of the conference call and answer any questions which may arise relating to Food Standards Agency (FSA) issues.

Gavin Neath (Unilever), Lord Larry Whitty (NCC) and Peter Vicary-Smith (Which?) were unable to take part in the conference call.

The Chair invited participants to introduce themselves and explained that this was Dawn Primarolo and David Cheesewright’s first NSSG meeting. It was noted that NSSG members had been sent copy of the research brief on 19 November and had been provided with an opportunity to provide written comments in advance of the telephone call. Written comments had been received from Justin King. David Reid indicated that Tesco had also submitted some written comments, and Salman Amin said that he had only received the document the day before and did not feel he was in a position to comment on the document. It was agreed that he would submit written comments by morning of Friday 30 November 2007.

The Chair invited Sue Duncan to explain the reason for a change in the market research representative on the PMP and to explain the research design.

Sue reminded NSGG members that the appraisal process had been conducted in accordance with Government procurement procedures which require that any appraisal panel member who has a conflict of interest is disallowed from taking part in the evaluation of the Expressions of Interest or subsequent appraisal process. In light of this requirement, Eric Salama was unable to take part in the appraisal process.

The NSSG were informed of this decision on 8 August 2007. Eric had therefore been replaced by Malcolm Rigg, Director of the Policy Studies Institute, on the basis that he was identified as a suitable replacement by the Market Research Society in terms of his market research expertise and commercial experience.

In view of the PMP's decision on the preferred bidder for the research contract and in light of Erik’s involvement with the preferred bidder as well as the need to maintain the PMPs independence and avoid any potential conflicts of interest, Malcolm will provide the market research expertise on the PMP from here-on-in. It was noted that the identity of the preferred bidder must remain confidential until the contract has been signed.

Each participant was invited in turn to indicate the nature of any issues they wished to raise. The main points related to:

• selection of consumers in research sample
• research questions – collection of additional information to contextualise responses from study participants
• timing of research and research reporting arrangements
• how the study will test comprehension and choice and the influence labelling has on these issues

Sue explained that the study would be a comparative study, and that the principal aim of the study would be to find out what elements worked best for consumers in the real world in terms of how it helped consumers to make choices. She explained that the research had a qualitative element which would test how the labelling was used in real life and would focus mainly on issues to do with choice. It would involve accompanied shops, shopping bag audits and in depth interviews. She indicated that although this element was identified as part 2 in the documentation sent to the NSSG, it would be carried out first, as it would also be used to develop the comprehension phase of work (part 1 in the documentation sent to the NSSG) which would test actual understanding of the labelling schemes in relation to a range of individual products and comparisons between a range of similar products. The contractor would be asked to provide the PMP with interim reports as results emerged from different phases of the work as well as the final report.

It was noted that the sample for the qualitative element would be determined using standard qualitative recruitment techniques and that the sample for the quantitative element would be carried out using random probability sampling techniques. The study participants would be selected on the basis of having main or joint responsibility for the household food shopping. Random probability sampling generates a representative sample of the population and will enable us to identify differences by for example age and socio-economic group. The sample would also capture different types of shopper in terms of who they shop for and types of shopping occasion. This would enable analysis of whether the presence of children in the household or the type of shopping occasion altered/impacted on label use in any way.

It was confirmed that the research would provide a snapshot, and that if it was felt helpful to find out how things had changed over time then a repeat study could be commissioned subsequently to provide this data.

David Reid indicated that based on Tesco research experience it would be important to take account of the customer’s attitude. David Cheesewright considered that based on Asda’s experience of trialling different labelling schemes in store it would be important to take account of the customers background, pre-knowledge, purchasing habits and familiarity with the various labelling schemes as their relative impact in terms of motivation to use the information and effect on actual behaviour change would alter over time. He offered to provide a summary for the PMP outlining Asda’s key learnings from this exercise. Justin King felt that there was a need for a study which would provide new information and insights about how consumers view and use the various labelling approaches and the degree to which they influence them. He also felt that it would be important that the research was mindful of the discussions on future European Union (EU) labelling requirements as this may affect the background against which the research is carried out. Steve Esom felt that it would be important to capture data on what consumers actually thought about the usefulness or otherwise of the signpost labelling information. There was general support for collecting data on where the study respondent did their main shopping. All these points were accepted and Sue confirmed that they would be reflected in the research.

NSSG members confirmed that they were content for the PMP to proceed with work and for FSA to let the contract.

1. Salman Amin and Peter Vicary Smith to submit written comments by morning of 30 November 2007.

2. David Cheesewright to send the NSSG Secretariat a summary of the findings from Asda research on signpost labelling for use by the PMP in the context of the evaluation research.

3. PMP to produce a written response to each of the points submitted in writing and circulate it to NSSG members

4. PMP to progress commissioning the research.

5. PMP to provide NSSG with copies of research questionnaire and discussion guide for information.

6. Research results to be phased and the research report to be signed off by the PMP.