Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, pursuant to the Answer of 4 December, 2017 to Question 116658, if he will list the legitimate grievances of direct suppliers of reporting potential breaches of the Grocery Code to the Grocery Code Adjudicator to which he refers in that answer.

Under the Code the large retailers are obliged to deal fairly and lawfully with suppliers across a range of supply chain practices. These include: making payments on time; no variations to supply agreements without notice; compensation payments for forecasting errors; no charges for shrinkage or wastage; restrictions on listing fees, marketing costs, position payments and delisting; not to require suppliers predominantly to fund promotions; not to over-order at promotional prices and not to require suppliers to make unjustified payments for consumer complaints.

The Strategic Goal will focus on encouraging suppliers to report potential breaches of the Groceries Code.