Groceries Code Adjudicator

Debate between Anna Soubry and Neil Parish

Tuesday 17th November 2015 Westminster Hall

[The Minister for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise (Anna Soubry)]

It is, as ever, a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Gray. I sat through some of the previous debate and was looking forward to this one on the basis that my job would not be as difficult as that of the Minister in that one. I fear that I was mistaken. As you have heard, Mr Gray, everybody has ganged up on me. [Hon. Members: “Aww.”] I am not complaining particularly, because I think I have robust rebuttals to some of what has been said.

Given that, as ever, I have 10 minutes, the usual rules will apply. My hon. Friend—he is my hon. Friend—the Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) will know my rules, which are that if I do not answer any questions or points raised by hon. Members from whatever party, they will of course receive an answer in a letter. It is always good to say that, because I can simply put off the more difficult ones to another time by putting the answers in a letter.

Being serious, and with great respect to everyone who has spoken—particularly my hon. Friend the Member for York Outer (Julian Sturdy), whom I congratulate on securing this debate—I think that there are some fundamental misunderstandings about the Groceries Code Adjudicator. I will be even more controversial, and a little churlish, by saying that I am sure that the adjudicator is looking forward to appearing before my hon. Friend the Member for Tiverton and Honiton (Neil Parish) and his Committee. Clearly, nobody else here has met Christine Tacon. I have had the great pleasure of meeting her. She is a lady who takes no prisoners, and she is forthright not only in her views but in defence of the great work that she does. She is a formidable player, and in her we have an excellent first adjudicator.

I point out the following facts. The Groceries Code Adjudicator and her team are funded wholly by a levy on the 10 designated retailers, as outlined by my hon. Friend the Member for York Outer. The levy for 2015-16 has been set at £1.1 million, but the important point is this: the adjudicator decides for herself what her resource requirements will be for each year, based on her assessment of forthcoming work. They are approved by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and then the amount is levied on the retailers. She is very much in charge.

I was looking at the Groceries Code Adjudicator website only today. I noted that in her report published today on her work over the last three months, she says, for example, that she has just appointed a new compliance officer. I urge hon. Members to read her three-monthly report to see the great advances that she is making. There is also scope to bring in additional resource if required, for example to help with investigation work. The adjudicator is satisfied that she has adequate resources and with the process for agreeing those resources with BIS. She has made that clear. It is up to her: if she is not satisfied, or thinks that she does not have enough, she can say so. If we agree, and there is no reason why we would not, she can increase the levy on those supermarkets. She has those powers.

The adjudicator also has powers to initiate her own investigations where she has reasonable grounds to suspect a breach of the code. That can be based on, but is not restricted to, information from direct and indirect suppliers, whistleblowers and the public domain. I argue that despite the complaints made by some, she has the ability to take complaints from other sources. In addition, it is clear from the Groceries Code Adjudicator Act 2013 and the guidance that the investigation threshold is determined by the adjudicator herself, which means she can be proactive in her approach.

[Neil Parish]

The point I was making was not so much about whether the adjudicator is able to take these complaints but that those who are making the complaints are too identifiable by the big retailers and therefore are not prepared to come forward.

[Anna Soubry]

I have a rebuttal for that somewhere, because I am told that regarding whistleblowers—the clue is in the title, I suggest—the adjudicator has a statutory duty to protect confidentiality. That addresses the fear factor among suppliers. Also, the National Farmers Union has a scheme that allows suppliers to make anonymous reports of code breaches via an online form on its own website. The NFU is exactly the type of third party that can take up a complaint on behalf of somebody in the manner that my hon. Friend would like. I thank my officials for that information.

Green Belt (England)

Debate between Anna Soubry and Neil Parish

Tuesday 18th October 2011 Westminster Hall

[Anna Soubry]

As ever, my hon. Friend makes a brilliant point, and I am grateful to have him as my neighbour, with or without any green belt that may separate us. He makes an important point, which my hon. Friend the Member for Beckenham (Bob Stewart) may hear, about the value of sustainable development, which is not just about building more homes: it is much more than that. It is about bringing jobs and enhancing the environment. That may mean clearing up sites, as my hon. Friend the Member for Amber Valley (Nigel Mills) said, so that homes may be built, or business be generated or regenerated. There are many sites, such as the Stanton works, with which my hon. Friend and I are familiar, where hundreds if not thousands of people once worked. We need that imaginative approach, which lies at the heart of sustainable development as defined in the framework and identified in the Localism Act 2011.

I suspect that what is happening in my constituency is not unique, and that is something that concerns us all.

[Neil Parish (Tiverton and Honiton) (Con)]

My hon. Friend is making a great case for the green belt, but housing numbers are an issue and people need to live somewhere. In our towns and city centres there is living accommodation above shops. All sorts of accommodation often lies empty. It would do towns and city centres good if those properties were refurbished and lived in. That would take pressure off the green belt and green fields.

[Anna Soubry]

I completely agree with that helpful intervention. We need a revolution, in the best sense of the word, in the way we provide the new homes that so many people want, without damaging the environment: on the contrary, we can enhance it as we provide those homes. However, we must continue to protect the green belt, because of its special features.