Food from Britain's funding slashed

Export market development consultancy, Food from Britain's (FFB's) annual grant of £5M is to be cut by 25% in the next three years as part of government-imposed savings.

FFB will relinquish its promotion of UK regional food, concentrating on helping exporters in particular market sectors, said a spokeswoman.

Despite the cuts, FFB will retain its nine international offices to support exporters in these markets. Earlier last year it reduced staff levels - including several senior posts - at its London headquarters in a restructure which generated "significant" savings.

FFB plans to start recruiting a permanent chief executive early in 2008.

"We've got a plan for going ahead to make sure we can continue to offer the right services to clients; to keep our international network going," said the spokeswoman. "In the future we are going to be focusing entirely on our work with exports."

In the past FFB has been jointly funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and consultancy fees from food sector companies. In future the DEFRA grant will be focused entirely on export markets seen to warrant most support. At the same time, FFB will seek to increase its earned income.

The work on regional food and drink was part of a five-year programme of activities supported by DEFRA, concluding at the end of March, said the spokeswoman. This work will in future be the responsibility of regional food groups.

DEFRA is carrying a widespread review of its expenditure to produce overall savings of around £300M both internally and among the various activities it supports.

The Waste & Resources Action Programme, which supports industry in reducing and recycling waste, has also been asked to cut its spending by 25%, or £15M a year.