Hybu Cig Cymru Employees Raise Serious Concerns About Leadership & Culture

Responding to a letter from Hybu Cig Cymru, HCC, employees outlining the extent of the toxic culture within HCC, James Evans MS, Welsh Conservative Shadow Rural Affairs Minister, said:

“Further to the letter from Hybu Cig Cymru employees, my concerns have only grown in regard to the toxic culture within HCC.  The Welsh Labour Government have been caught slacking on this and they must thoroughly investigate this Government body that underpins an industry valued at over £1bn to Wales.

It’s about time the Welsh Labour Government gave this body back to the industry – and create a fully independent meat marketing board for Wales, run by our farmers and processors who are elected to serve on the board by the industry themselves.”

Dear Sirs

We write to express our ongoing concern, and highlight the untruths declared by the Hybu Cig Cymru (HCC) Chair, Catherine Smith, both in the S4C Y Byd ar Bedwar programme on 25 November 2024, and in a subsequent article published in the Farmers Guardian online on 27 November 2024.

Catherine Smith lied to the presenter of Y Byd ar Bedwar in relation to the HCC Board’s response to the investigation into bullying and harassment. The Board did not follow due process as it was acting woefully out of remit for a non-executive Board, where operational matters concerning staffing should be retained by the Executive. Another lie was in relation to Catherine Smith’s comment at 19 minutes 22 seconds into the programme where she states that they had done the right thing by ‘following the recommendations and the outcomes’. This is another lie. The Board cherry-picked some of the recommendations, mostly relating to the organisation, choosing to ignore the key recommendation in relation to the respondent, and most importantly, ignoring the outcome where three out of the five counts of behaviour deemed to fall under bullying and harassment were upheld. The Board chose to purposefully ignore this, with Catherine Smith misleading the audience, and therefore levy payers as to what the Board did and did not do.

Catherine Smith’s comments in the Farmers Guardian calling the documentary ‘overarchingly inaccurate’ and a ‘gross misrepresentation’ of HCC are not only insulting and disrespectful to those personally, physically, and emotionally impacted by the behaviours that prevail at HCC but a demonstration of the Chair’s continued agenda to disregard the truth, and perpetuate lies. The account told by both existing and former employees of HCC on Y Byd ar Bedwar was an accurate account of the ongoing situation at HCC, an account that staff have attempted to highlight on numerous occasions to the HCC Board, interim-CEO, external stakeholders, and Welsh Government, with it falling on deaf ears. The Chair’s continued denial, despite the evidence of the independent investigation, reflects the comments made by staff of gaslighting and dishonesty within the organisation’s Board.

Furthermore, Catherine Smith suggests in the Farmers Guardian that some of those who have left have left due to ‘significant promotional opportunities’ elsewhere, this is another lie, as all employees who have left or are intending to leave have left to roles that represent a demotion in terms of salary and role when compared to their role at HCC. Employees have been forced to leave because of the toxic culture, not through choice or opportunity. A number of resignation letters have highlighted the concerns and wrongdoing within HCC. Again, these have been ignored, and misconstrued.

We believe that the Chair has publicly demonstrated a complete disregard for the Seven Principles of Public Life (the Nolan Principles) which she is bound by as a public appointee, appointed by Welsh Ministers, in particular the principles relating to dishonesty, integrity, and openness. In addition, she is also bound by her director’s duties under the Companies Act 2006, namely to ‘exercise reasonable care, skill and diligence’. We therefore believe that immediate action needs to be taken by Welsh Government and/or industry

Yours faithfully

Former and current Hybu Cig Cymru employees who wish to remain anonymous due to the fear of retribution.

I have already posted about the crisis at HCC and it is about time that HCC basically got to grips with this situation. Perhaps listening to staff members, past and present might be a good place to start…………………………….

But in 2024 to read this letter from HCC employees is appalling. I agree with James Evans MS that the Labour Welsh Government should return HCC back to the industry. This industry is worth £1bn to Wales and should be run by an independent meat marketing board of our farmers and processors and the board should be elected from these people.