Social Responsibility

In the Community

Corporate Community Involvement

Tate & Lyle aims to play a positive role in all the communities in which we operate. Over the years we have developed a Group-wide community involvement policy that forms one of the core components underpinning our ethical behaviour. Our programme involves building long-term relationships with local partners to deliver a shared objective: establishing strong, safe and healthy communities by investing time and resources into projects that directly address local needs.

Overview
Our community partnerships are well supported by employees, many of whom take part in our programmes. Tate & Lyle's community involvement benefits our employees by enhancing their own local community, offering significant personal development opportunities and making Tate & Lyle a company they are proud to work for.

Each year we support around 300 organisations, ranging from long-established charities to fledgling community organisations. Community support takes many forms, depending on the needs of the organisation, and includes funding, employee volunteering, consultancy, donation of products and equipment and, for selected partners, free use of the Company's warehousing, office accommodation and meeting room facilities.

We were delighted to win a silver 'Big Tick' award at the UK's Business in the Community's 2007 Jubilee Awards in recognition of our long-term partnerships with local organisations. These stretch back 30 years in the case of Community Links and are aimed at supporting the regeneration of the local community around Thames Refinery.

In the financial year to 31 March 2008, Tate & Lyle's total worldwide charitable donations were £642,000 (2006 - £687,000). Our total global pro bono contribution in goods and services is estimated to have been £254,000 up from £218,000 in the previous year. We have 4 charitable spend allocations and the targets for these remain unchanged at 50% for Education, 25% for Environment, 15% for Health and 10% for Arts.

Key achievements

We support many initiatives and local organisations involved in community regeneration around the world. Listed here is a selection from each region in the past year:

UK

■ VerbalEyes: in partnership with Tate Britain, we continue to support this programme in which primary school children complete a six-month project that uses original works of art to improve language and literacy skills.

■ Community Links: a local charity working to regenerate the area of Newham in east London and providing support to 50,000 people each year.

■ Community Food Enterprise: a social enterprise improving community access to affordable fresh fruit and vegetables in east London.

■ Eastside Young Leaders Academy: east London institution working with young African and Caribbean males to inspire them to become leaders.

■ Hoops4Health: a group of professional basketball players working with primary schools to promote healthy life-styles and emphasise the importance of physical exercise.

Europe (not UK)

■ Support for children: our German business, G.C. HAHN & Co., supports a programme in Upsalacircus, St Petersburg, that helps reintegrate children who have been at risk back into the community.

■ Veronesi: our Italian business, Cesalpinia, supports this cancer research charity.

USA

■ Boys & Girls Club of America: a programme in Decatur, Illinois, designed to inspire and enable all young people to realise their full potential.

■ Education: Tate & Lyle gives regular support to a number of educational institutions including Brush College, Associated Colleges of Illinois, and Milliken and Purdue universities.

■ Loudon Tate & Lyle Performing Arts Center: support for an amphitheatre that holds a variety of entertainment such as seasonal concerts and events.

South Africa

■ Domino Servite School: Tate & Lyle has funded developments at this school in Kwazulu Natal, and has entered a long-term partnership to support the running of the science laboratory.

■ Helenic Community of the West Rand: support for the Greek school community.

■ Kid's Haven: we provide support for this children's care centre.

Vietnam

Nghe An Tate & Lyle, our sugar business in Vietnam, supports the following programmes:

■ Roads: provincial and local road maintenance in the factory's cane plantation area.

■ For the Future: supplying text books and school stationery for under-privileged children when they start school.

■ Housing: helping to improve housing for cane farmers.

UK community survey results

Finding out from our partners what they think of our community involvement work is very important if we are to continue to improve our programmes and encourage more employee volunteering.

This year, responses showed that we are continuing to maintain our traditionally high level of performance. Our contribution to the community was rated at 3.7 out of 4, while 69% of respondents reported an improved capability to help their target cause which, whilst not as high as last year, still remains significantly higher than previous years.