Corporate Social Responsibility Policy

The Dalesman Group is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and is fully committed to its Equality & Diversity Policy of treating all its employees and job applicants equally. We take all necessary steps to employ, train and promote employees on the basis of their experience, abilities and qualifications without regard to race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality, national origin, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, age or disability. We train all staff in the Company’s policy on equality and diversity and in helping them identify discriminatory acts or practises of harassment or bullying.

As a company we are committed to equal pay in employment. We believe our employees should receive equal pay for like work, work rated as equivalent or work of equal values, regardless of their background, age, ethnicity, or gender. Staff are always paid correctly and on time, in compliance with the National Minimum/Living Wage. All terms of employment, benefits, facilities and service are reviewed on a regular basis in order to ensure there is no unlawful discrimination.

We therefore have a number of policies, systems and controls in place to ensure that we are conducting our business in an ethical, responsible and transparent manner. All of the following policies are readily available to employees:

• Equality & Diversity Policy
• Bullying & Harassment
• Recruitment & Selection
• Pay

Quality is an integral part of our business culture and forms the basis of company’s activities to deliver products that are safe, compliant, authentic and of the highest quality to customers. We are committed to supply preferred products and services, without compromise to safety, compliance, authenticity and quality, in accordance with current EU and UK legislation. Quality is the foundation of our company ethos, embedded across the business through our commitment to food safety and quality culture, driven through commitment to our Food Safety and Quality Management system and verified by an independent third-party certification body (British Retail Consortium).

We regularly review our quality performance and processes of continuous improvement across all aspects of food safety and quality, as well as encourage participation and promotion of quality responsibilities amongst all employees through standards, education, training and coaching, supervision and effective communication channels. All of the following policies are readily available to employees:

• Training & Development
• Health & Safety
• Food Handling
• BRC Certification
• Food Safety & Quality Culture Training

We offer a full and detailed induction program that encourages staff to skill up fast and is recognized and remunerated. We have a skills matrix in place in each department in order to review the competence and training needs of all employees. This enables us to bridge any gaps, implement the necessary training and consider our succession planning for the future, which includes professional development and further education requirements. All refresher training is carried out in accordance with BRC standards and the relevant legal requirements and is logged on a training database.

High staff retention is a key driver to the success of the business, with ongoing training and investment in the workforce and an increase in production space. The new state of the art site is a “game-changer” for the business and has the potential to alter the core customer demographic with industry leading production, NPD and Technical we will be able to recruit key people with industry leading skills.

Our company ethos is that we are “a service provider who happens to manufacture”. This ethos is integrated through staff training across the whole business and is supported by our custom-built Customer Management System (CMS) and Continuous Improvement Note (CIN) programme. We pride ourselves on offering all customers the full support that they require to grow their business with us, whilst acknowledging problems and managing them through to resolution in a timely manner. Our customer facing staff are trained to be approachable, responsive and professional at all times.

Our vision is aligned and achieved through:

• Product Quality – high quality, exceptional flavour balance
• Customer Service – responsive, one step ahead
• Innovation – ‘Eureka’, a taste of things to come
• Compliance – year on year excellence in food industry standards (BRC Grade AA certification
• People – investing in unique skill sets

The control of food safety is a fundamental part of our vision, which is why our Food Safety & Quality Management system is integrated into every procedure within our supply chain. To safeguard our production processes The Dalesman Group continuously invests in the development and design of EON (our internal IT system), the manufacturing infrastructure and enforce regular staff training.

With a manufacturing site that focuses on food safety, traceability and product integrity, we welcome customers to visit our head office manufacturing site to see all activities and ask questions about our processes and systems. We also communicate with our customers through regular update emails, our group’s websites (www.thedalesmangroup.co.uk, www.dalesmandirect.com and www.gordonrhodes.co.uk), as well as our social media channels, where we are able to listen and respond to customer feedback.

Provenance, Quality and Ethical sourcing is of paramount importance for our products and we know that best price does not always equate to best practise.

We have an Ethically trained Purchasing Department and we make every effort to source raw materials through pre-approved GFSI Approved suppliers who promote our sustainability ethos and adhere to the Modern Slavery Act 2015 & the Bribery Act 2010.

We work closely with all our suppliers to bring you not only the best ingredients in the marketplace, but also to bring you technical peace of mind. Every delivery into our site is checked and tested by our QA department; all suppliers and specifications are checked and investigated by our technical department, including carrying out our own audits on suppliers; and our purchasing department works to bring in every product at the best price from only the best supply chains.

The Dalesman Group does not source ingredients which contain palm oil or that are genetically modified. We endeavour to create blends which are “clean label”, allergen free, with minimal additives / e-numbers and only use natural flavourings.

Packaging is an essential commodity for many businesses and, used properly, can reduce waste by protecting products in transit. We recognise our responsibility to our customers and to the environment on best practice in the use of packaging in a sustainable and environmentally sensitive manner.

We work hard to:

• Use the minimum amount of packaging material possible, eliminate where possible.
• Deploy the most efficient packaging products available.
• Re-use packaging materials as secondary packaging wherever possible.
• Use packaging that is both recycled and recyclable and recycle packaging material whenever possible.

At The Dalesman Group, we have a commitment to reducing the environmental impact that our business activities may have.

Our new manufacturing, technical and warehousing site in Bradford has been awarded a Grade A SBEM score.

• High efficiency gas fired condensing boilers produce heating for the ancillary areas, air handling plant and domestic hot water.
• The Building Management System controls plant items, monitors operational temperatures and records energy and water usage.
• Heat recovery VRF Comfort air conditioning provides heating and cooling to office areas.
• The heat recovery ventilation systems utilise heat from extracted air to heat up the incoming supply air via a heat exchanger thus providing a reduction in CO2 and a comfortable environment.
• Minimising the risk of water wastage, all toilets, wash basins and sinks incorporate sensor taps.
• Photovoltaics – 555 panels have been installed on the roof, giving an estimated annual yield of circa 116,368 KWhr of electricity. The installation will contribute to the reduction of CO2 into the environment. It is accepted that every kWh of electricity generated using Solar Panels will save 0.47kg of CO2.
• LED Lighting – LED light fittings have been used throughout. By using LED lighting in place of traditional CFL or fluorescent lamps the energy reduction is circa 55%.
• Daylight Dimming – A further energy reduction of the lighting installation of circa 25% is made through the use of daylight dimming.
• Electric Vehicle Charging installed – offering charging access in workplace car parks, which serve as the next most-likely place a vehicle will spend time parked after the home. The ability to charge at work can potentially double an EV driver’s all-electric daily commuting range. For people with no off-street parking the ability to charge at work can make driving an electric vehicle a viable option.

Additionally, we:

• Use hybrid vehicles within our Sales teams
• Have delivery and back hauling systems in place for fuel savings
• Have onsite compacting facilities for recycling
• Have a building which has been scored 10, Band A and highly efficient, when other buildings of this type are typically scored 30.

To support and engage with our local community, we are proud to be able to offer Work Experience to local schools and Universities.

We take part in the Bradford Manufacturing Week which allows the local community to see how we work and showcase our manufacturing expertise.

We support our community by employing around 65% of our workforce from the local area.

We regularly partake in and encourage staff to participate in fundraising and other charitable work.