Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill [Lords]

Debate between Jo Swinson and Nia Griffith

Monday 19th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Jo Swinson]

If the hon. Gentleman will forgive me, I will make a little progress, because he has already intervened.

It benefits no one to reach straight for fines before we have exhausted the other options. We seek to impose a proportionate and effective solution. A move straight to fines would risk creating an unnecessarily adversarial environment, which would ultimately detract from our key objective of achieving long-lasting change in the culture of retailers.

[Nia Griffith (Llanelli) (Lab)]

Will the Minister give way?

[Jo Swinson]

I will give way to the hon. Lady, although I am aware that other Members wish to speak.

[Nia Griffith]

Under what circumstances would the Secretary of State consider bringing in the power to raise fines?

[Jo Swinson]

I hope that the hon. Lady will understand that I am not going to give an exhaustive list. If the groceries code adjudicator felt that the remedies were not sufficient and were not being adhered to and if there were repeated breaches or if the recommendations made by the adjudicator were not being followed up on, those things would weigh heavily in the balance.

There has been a lot of lobbying on this issue, not least from hon. Members. As I am discovering, ministerial life brings with it a variety of interesting experiences, one of which happened last month, when I accepted a petition from a giant dog.