Corporate Responsibility Report 2007

Our approach to community investment

Active Kids

Active Kids connects many of our corporate responsibilities. It tackles childhood obesity and encourages healthier lifestyles.

2007 is the third year of the scheme. Active Kids is a campaign which links all of our stores to local communities, involving customers, their children and families. It supports our ambition to be the number one supermarket for health.

The overall aim is to address the major issue of childhood obesity and declining exercise amongst children by investing in enjoyable activities, experiences, and equipment. It focuses on energy in-energy out as factors that affect childhood obesity.

Our biggest lesson from 2006 is that schools are not the only touch point for young people on the issue of childhood obesity. We have commenced a new partnership with the Scout and Girlguiding UK Associations, which will see us invite over 1 million young people and 300,000 adult volunteers to participate in Active Kids in 2007. We aim to get 5,000 Scout and Girlguiding UK groups registered with Active Kids by July 2007.

We beat our target of getting 30,000 schools signed up to Active Kids. In 2006 a total of 31,000 schools registered for Active Kids, including 6,000 out of the 12,000 nursery schools invited to join the campaign in 2006, further widening the accessibility of the scheme.

Active Kids in numbers

• We have now invested £34 million in the Active Kids scheme, over two years
• In 2006 over 700 stores participated, including our local convenience stores
• 85% of all UK schools are registered for the scheme
• On average, schools have each received about £1,500 of sports equipment through Active Kids in two years
• The most popular pieces of equipment to be ordered through last year’s Active Kids scheme were bean bags (57,684 collected), skipping ropes (57,429), playground ball sets (55,872), foam javelins (13,889) and stop-watches (13,068)
• The demand for Active Kids equipment has been so great that we set up a dedicated 220,000 sq ft warehouse in Manchester to manage fulfilment

Also in 2006/07:

• We offered schools a wider range of equipment, the chance for coaches to visit their school and the opportunity to redeem vouchers for sports kits
• Customers earned a bonus voucher for every £10 spent on fresh fruit, vegetables and salad, plus any of the 2,350 foods marked with the healthy ‘apple stamp’, such as milk, pasta, rice and fresh fish
• The Active Kids catalogue was extended to include outdoor adventure gear and cooking equipment to support our ‘Active Kids Get Cooking’ scheme
• We announced partnerships with the UK’s leading school travel operator PGL, so schools can exchange Active Kids vouchers for a discount on group outdoor activities such as abseiling, canoeing and fencing

Active Kids Get Cooking

Our ‘Active Kids Get Cooking’ initiative has been around for five years under the name of ‘Taste of Success’. It was re-launched in its new form in December 2006.

The scheme is open to all pupils aged 5-16 and all schools in the UK and is aimed at addressing the lack of resources in schools for delivering food technology and nutritional elements of the National Curriculum, as well as the ongoing debate surrounding childhood obesity.

The free scheme provides free resources to teachers and can be incorporated into existing lesson plans. Pupils are invited to take part in the ‘Active Kids Get Cooking’ challenge to come up with the most inventive and nutritious dishes from around the UK. Winners are then invited to a celebratory event at our Store Support Centre, with winning recipes sometimes even being made into our store ‘Tip’ cards.

By April 2007 over 7,000 schools had registered and over 50,000 certificates acknowledging children’s food knowledge and cooking capability were issued in the first three months of the scheme.