Annual Report and Accounts 2006

Deepen talent pool and increase diversity and inclusiveness

Our focus on performance and values is reflected in our fifth goal which is to nurture the trust of colleagues and communities where we operate. This is a broad goal which ranges from continuing to meet consumer needs and environmental sustainability to the engagement, commitment and diversity of our employees through to ethical trading, corporate governance and consumer health. It is our strong belief that doing the right thing in these areas is critical to the long-term success of our business. Over the past three years we have accomplished a great deal with a global strategy which builds on our heritage for ethical business.

In 2006 in our annual global employee survey we were pleased to see a very high level of engagement and commitment from our employees which is of great value to our business. Over 90% say they are proud to work for the company, are committed to its success and understand our core purpose and values. As we continue to change and improve our business, the value of a cohesive culture and committed workforce will be key.

During 2006 our efforts in nurturing colleagues and communities continued to gain recognition with a wide range of awards across a number of different areas. These included corporate and social responsibility awards in several countries including the UK, awards for being a good employer and recognition from the Carbon Disclosure Project for being best in class in response to climate change.

Diversity of talent is increasingly critical. We believe that through diversity we will access the best people and increase the quality of our talent pool; and through inclusiveness we will inspire the best people to deliver superior business performance.

Our agenda of diversity and inclusiveness is driven by a global team, with representation from senior management. Its objective is to employ and grow the most talented people regardless of backgrounds, races, thinking styles and genders.

Over time we expect that all levels of our organisation will reflect the breadth of our communities. Our progress in this area is supported by our Group-wide policy on equal employment opportunities, diversity and inclusiveness and we measure our performance on an annual basis.

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Continue high corporate and social responsibility standards through our actions and our brands

Our Board level Corporate and Social Responsibility Committee continued to oversee our progress during 2006 against our five pillars of corporate and social responsibility. Following a full review of our corporate and social responsibility strategy we moved to adopt a number of goals and commitments on sustainability from 2006 to 2010. We also published our third biennial corporate and social responsibility report in 2006 which reviews our progress. We continue to strengthen our corporate and social responsibility programme and in 2006 moved to incorporate external assurance on key areas.

We have continued to focus on the consumer health arena. Our overall strategy for consumer issues is managed and co-ordinated by a committee chaired by our Chief Executive Officer. We are informed by internal and external expertise and have appointed a Global Nutrition Director and set up an External Nutritional Advisory Group. Our focus ensures that we are engaged with a range of governmental and non-governmental organisations so we can play an active and constructive role in developing our response to consumer health issues. We continue to enforce our global marketing Code of Practice.

In early 2006 with the introduction of 'Be Treatwise' labelling and responsible consumption message for our products in the UK we provided consumers with more information about our brands content expressed as proportions of recommended Guideline Daily Amounts (or GDAs). This initiative will help our consumers as they work towards achieving a balanced lifestyle. We have plans to extend this global labelling standard throughout our worldwide business.

We have made a commitment that by 2010 we will increase product choices for consumers with reduced fat, sugar and salt alternatives for all of our core brands and support initiatives that promote physical activity.

Protecting the health and safety of employees is fundamental to how we manage our business. In 2006, we established a Quality, Environment Health & Safety Group, chaired by Steve Driver, President of Global Supply Chain. This group consists of board level representation and senior leadership from different functions to drive forward our agenda in this area. The remit of this committee includes quality and food safety where we are implementing additional programmes to strengthen our performance following the product recall in the UK in 2006.

We have a long tradition of playing an active role in the societies in which we operate. We aim to play our part in creating prosperous, educated, sustainable and healthy communities, and we encourage and support our employees participating in voluntary schemes and community activities. We also support this agenda under our membership of the 1% Club under which members commit to spend 1% of pre-tax profit on non-profit causes. In 2006 the value of Cadbury Schweppes' contribution to these causes totalled £9.6m or just over 1.3% of our pre-tax profit.

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