Groceries Code Adjudicator

Baroness Sherlock Excerpts

Tuesday 20th March 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord De Mauley]

I agree with the noble Lord and that is why anybody will be able to complain.

[Baroness Sherlock]

My Lords, will the Minister explain why these powers for financial sanctions will not be available from day one? Given that the point of setting up the adjudicator was to deal with the findings from the Competition Commission that supermarkets were transferring over excessive risk and unexpected cost to their suppliers, why would not the strongest possible signal be sent out right from the start?

[Lord De Mauley]

My Lords, I understand the noble Baroness’s position. On balance, we think that it would be better to start with the regime that we have proposed. As I said earlier, and as she acknowledges, we may well have to move on to what she suggests, but we would like to consider it further. One advantage of doing that is that we would have the benefit of the adjudicator’s input and experience of deciding on the framework for fines.