Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the terms of the forthcoming statutory review into the role of the Groceries Code Adjudicator will be; if the Government will consider a case for an extension of the remit of the Adjudicator in order to better protect primary producers as part of that review; and what steps the Government plans to take prior to the statutory review in order to give the Adjudicator more powers to deal with issues in the supply chain (a) in general and (b) in the dairy sector.

The terms of the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) review are set out in section 15 of the GCA Act 2013. This states that the review must:

(a) consider how much the Adjudicator's powers have been exercised; and

(b) assess how effective the Adjudicator has been in enforcing the Groceries Code

Under the Act the GCA’s role is to enforce the Groceries Supply Code of Practice which regulates the relationship between the ten largest supermarkets and their direct suppliers. There are no powers in the Act 2013 that would allow Ministers to extend the GCA’s jurisdiction. Changes to the GCA’s remit would require either a decision by the Competition and Markets Authority to conduct a further investigation into the sector or primary legislation to amend the 2013 Act.