Table 2 Criteria for assessing additionality

“Have the interventions described in this delivery plan already happened, or were they going to happen regardless of the RD?”

1. A delivery plan was coded as “1” if all interventions mentioned within were judged by assessors to be a result of the RD. Thus it was clear or very likely that the RD has motivated the partner to act by doing something new or implementing an already planned action more quickly. A fictional example is “We will engage the community with the active travel initiative by December 2013”

2. A delivery plan was coded as “2” if planned interventions (excluding those stated to be already completed) were judged by assessors to be potentially due to the RD. Thus the delivery plan indicated that the partner is potentially changing actions or timing of actions, or planning to, due to the RD. For example, “We already promote a number of workplace initiatives to help encourage physical activity. We plan to add greater focus on physical activity in our marketing materials.”

3. A delivery plan was coded as “3” if it was judged that all interventions were already implemented and/or not related to the RD. An example of a delivery plan being scored “3” would be one which stated that the signatory had already been implementing an intervention for several years prior to 2011. Thus the delivery plan clearly indicated that the partner has been doing what they describe for a while, particularly before 2011, or they have always done these activities. For example “We have been running an active health programme for a number of years, including annual gym membership, the cycle to work scheme and showering facilities at work.”

4. A delivery plan was coded as “4” if there was not enough information provided to make a judgement one way or the other.

5. A delivery plan was coded as “5” if no delivery plan was provided (i.e. the signatory had selected the pledge, but did not provide a plan of how to meet the pledge).