Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill [Lords]

Mark Williams Excerpts

Monday 19th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Jo Swinson]

The hon. Gentleman expresses an understandable desire to make sure that the role of adjudicator can be up and running as soon as possible. We all share that desire. I am sure, however, that he would not want the publication of the guidance to be rushed. Although I would be happy if the adjudicator, once in place, decides that the full six months is not needed and the guidance can be published earlier, it would not be wise to force a faster timetable if that was not felt to be possible.

[Mr Mark Williams (Ceredigion) (LD)]

My hon. Friend mentioned recommendations on possible changes that the adjudicator could make to the code’s remit. Will she say a little more about the extent of those changes because, as she will be aware, many primary producers across the country are really anxious?

[Jo Swinson]

It is not envisaged that such changes would necessarily be wide-ranging, because the role of adjudicator is based on the original Competition Commission reports and the findings of detriment to consumers resulting from excessive risks and costs being passed on to suppliers. If there are related issues that the groceries code adjudicator feels warrant a slight change to the code, he or she can make that recommendation, but that is the remit for what such changes would be. I hope that is helpful to my hon. Friend.

To add to a point raised earlier, there will be no restrictions on who can complain to the adjudicator, and the complainant’s identity will be kept in strict confidence. That means the adjudicator can receive information from any source, including direct and indirect suppliers, famers, whistleblowers within large retailers, and trade associations representing their members. That change was very much welcomed in the other place because it is important, and there is a genuine concern about a climate of fear among some suppliers. The change that has been made deals with that concern.

If the adjudicator, as a result of the evidence they have been provided with, has reasonable grounds to suspect that the code has been breached, they will be able to start an investigation and gather more information from relevant retailers and others. If the investigation finds that a retailer has broken the code, the adjudicator will have tough sanctions, for example the so-called “name and shame” powers to require retailers to publish information about a breach in the trade or national press. We think that those sanctions are powerful enough to uphold the code. However, if that proves not to be the case, the Bill allows the Secretary of State to grant the adjudicator a power to impose financial penalties as well.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Mark Williams (Ceredigion) (LD)]

It is a privilege to follow the hon. Member for South Down (Ms Ritchie). Like her, I represent a rural constituency, and I can testify to the great passion that many people there, including those in the Farmers Union of Wales and the National Farmers Union, attach to this issue. I can think of no meeting that I have held in the past 12 years or so as I have fought elections in Ceredigion at which the issues of an ombudsman, an adjudicator and the overwhelming power of the supermarkets have not arisen.

There has been consensus in the House today. We have resisted some of the partisan points made in the earlier stage of the debate. Reference was made to a quote from the noble Lord Grantchester in the other place about the fingerprints of the previous Labour Government being all over the Bill. The fingerprints of this Government are all over it as well, in the form of those of the Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, my hon. Friend the Member for East Dunbartonshire (Jo Swinson), the Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Somerton and Frome (Mr Heath) and, critically, my hon. Friend the Member for St Ives (Andrew George), who has done so much work on this subject. Also, my hon. Friend the Member for Ynys Môn (Albert Owen) put a huge amount of effort into his private Member’s Bill, to which I was privileged to be a co-signatory, towards the end of the previous Labour Government.

We are where we are, and we need to be clear about what the Bill will achieve—which I think will be commendable —as well as what I hope that it should achieve. I share the concerns that have been raised here today and by the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee and the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. Before I address those concerns, however, I want to add another test, which I shall call the Ceredigion test. The test asks how the Bill will impact on the large number of small family farms across my constituency in west Wales. The truth is that, as the Bill stands, it might not have as robust an impact as it should, but I am sure that we will have an opportunity to table amendments to it as it continues its passage.

We have heard today about toothless dogs sitting on ministerial ledges waiting to be dusted down if necessary. We have heard about tigers with a proliferation of gums but no teeth. The hon. Member for North Antrim (Ian Paisley) talked about kicking supermarkets where it hurts. An important theme in today’s debate has been the power to impose fines. We have also heard about a lengthy list of signatories to a letter from the interest groups that have urged the Government to think again about fines. They include the Farmers Union of Wales, the National Farmers Union, ActionAid UK, the British Independent Fruit Growers Association, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, the Church of England, the Country Land and Business Association, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Forum of Private Business, the Tenant Farmers Association, Unite the union, the World Society for the Protection of Animals, the Worldwide Fund for Nature and the National Federation of Women’s Institutes. We ignore the Women’s Institute at our peril, as others have found out in the past.

So long has been the gestation period of the legislation that expectations are running very high indeed. As the Bill stands, however, fines could be enforced only if an order by the Secretary of State under schedule 3 was in force. The Government have stated that such an order could be made, if it were deemed necessary, and that the power to fine could be enacted in six months. It must be said in the Government’s defence that that represents an advance, which was the result of deliberations in the House of Lords. That was a step in the right direction, and I hope that we can have further such discussions during the Bill’s passage through the House of Commons. On Second Reading in another place, we heard complaints that the proposed process was too cumbersome and laborious. I agreed with that at the time, and I would hazard a guess that six months will still prove lengthy and cumbersome, given the enormity of the complaints that are sometimes made against our supermarkets.

The Government have argued that naming and shaming is disincentive enough for retailers, and that having the ability to fine from the outset could create hostility in the industry. I agree that naming and shaming can influence consumers on where to buy. Had the Minister of State’s predecessor—my right hon. Friend the Member for South East Cambridgeshire (Sir James Paice)—not brokered a deal in the dairy sector, an elaborate and effective campaign against certain supermarkets would have been launched. We must be realistic about how far this can go, however, and I question whether naming and shaming is disincentive enough in comparison with having the capacity to levy those fines from the outset.

I know the Minister is aware of these concerns—as will be his colleagues in BIS after this debate. At the very least, I would like to hear a response from the Minister to the question posed by the Chair of the DEFRA Committee about the circumstances in which an order in the Bill should or should not apply.

I wish to raise some points about the accessibility of the adjudicator to everyone in the industry. Two weeks ago, the Welsh Affairs Committee, of which the hon. Member for Llanelli (Nia Griffith) and I are members, visited my constituency and took evidence on the status of the dairy farming industry in Wales. We took evidence from the Farmers Union of Wales and the National Farmers Union, as well as from the Welsh Assembly’s Rural Affairs Minister, Mr Alun Davies. There was a consensus from all groups that the adjudicator must be accessible to everyone throughout the chain. As the FUW argued, the adjudicator should not be just about the relationship between two parties—the 10 supermarkets and their suppliers—because in a Welsh context, the majority of farmers operate on a much smaller scale and are not in direct supply contracts with those 10 supermarkets.

The argument is that the adjudicator must be able to intervene throughout the entire chain. It needs to be easy to lodge a complaint, but this is not helped by the fact that the supply chain is not transparent, so it would be unreasonable for a producer to be able to lodge a claim that requires a lot of evidentiary support. The adjudicator needs to be accessible for all producers, including the small family farms in rural Wales. This is impeded, of course, by a code that is laudable but by nature defines the relationship between 10 large supermarkets and their suppliers.

Does the Minister accept that there is a case for the powers of the adjudicator to be extended to cover all powerful companies—big and small—within the supply chains or at least that the adjudicator can be charged with gathering evidence relating to any abuses? I concur with what the NFU said in its briefing, suggesting that the adjudicator should be able to recommend changes to the code, which is the foundation of what we are discussing today. Is the adjudicator able to recommend changes to the code? I also ask the Minister to clarify the extent of the changes that could be recommended. If the plight of primary producers continues to be problematic, the adjudicator may be the best person to make a request to extend the code and possibly extend its remit to others in the supply chain, should they receive complaints of this nature.

I have two final points. First, I welcome what the Government have said about the anonymity of complainants. This has been a prevailing theme through all these deliberations over the last few years—the constraint that the fear factor has placed on a number of potential complainants.

Secondly, to raise a point touched on by my hon. Friend the Member for St Ives, what resources will be available to the adjudicator? Will he be able to look at issues arising since the origins of the code, which are immense, and will sufficient resources be available for him to do so?

The Food and Drink Federation has said that

“abuses of retail power by retailers damage suppliers’ confidence, and their ability to invest and innovate”.

This has led to a reduction in choice and availability, and it increases costs for consumers.

This Bill is designed to protect suppliers from unfair breaches of contract, but as we have heard, it does not address all the issues of fair pricing to farmers and producers. In the context of the dairy industry, we look to the voluntary code to help us in that respect. Sometimes, as I have found in going to agricultural meetings across my constituency, this has been characterised as the panacea or great solution to all the problems and challenges that the farming industry faces. Somebody—in government or, implicitly, there is a responsibility on all of us—has to talk earnestly and honestly to constituents and remind them that this is not the only way in which we are going to assist and support a vibrant agricultural sector. The Bill is one important part of the process, but it will not achieve everything. It is a critical step towards fair treatment for all producers and it has the potential to do much more. In Welsh there is the phrase “Chwarae Teg”, which means “fair play”. That is what I believe this Bill is out to achieve. With further consideration and further amendment, too, I hope it can achieve that.