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

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many cases have been submitted to the Pubs Code Adjudicator for arbitration; and in how many of those cases (a) objections have been made by one of the parties relating to the conduct of the case by the Adjudicator, on the grounds of a conflict of interest and (b) an alternative arbitrator has been appointed.

79 referrals for arbitration have been submitted to the Pubs Code Adjudicator in the first four months of its operation from 21 July to 21 November 2016. 77 of these were valid or accepted for arbitration, while two were out of scope. Of those 77 referrals, an objection to the conduct of the case by the Adjudicator on the grounds of a conflict of interest has been made in 8 cases. No alternative arbitrators have been appointed by the Pubs Code Adjudicator.