Report

Part of Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill [HL] Report – in the House of Lords at 3:10 pm on 16 July 2012.

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Photo of Lord Browne of Ladyton Lord Browne of Ladyton Shadow Spokesperson (Scotland) 3:10, 16 July 2012

My Lords, as I explained on the first day in Committee, having set out to legislate in language that is,

"intended to be easier for everyone to understand"-[Hansard, 22/5/12; col. 761.]

that is, in plain English-it is arguable at least that the Government have failed that test in the first effective sentence, which is in the third line of the Bill. It reads:

"There is to be a Groceries Code Adjudicator".

As I argued on the first day in Committee, I know no one who speaks plain English who uses that construction. This is not the most important issue that we will discuss in relation to this Bill but it gives your Lordships' House an opportunity to discuss this issue of plain English, which occupied us intermittently throughout our debate in Committee. Unfortunately, we did not find a comfortable way in which to deal with all aspects of this and some of them may recur in our deliberations on Report.

In order to make my point, I attempted to improve this sentence by simply amending it to read, "There will be a groceries code adjudicator". I was told by the Minister that that changed the meaning of the sentence and that the construction I had chosen was a prediction and not a statement of fact. However, she graciously agreed to take this matter away and to think on it. Perhaps I may say that that was not surprising because, arguably, the sentence:

"There is to be a Groceries Code Adjudicator", also appears to me to have an element of prediction about it.

However, the Minister having graciously offered that opportunity, I grasped it. I too have thought about this sentence. With the assistance of a conversation with the Bill team, I now propose an amendment which reads:

"A Groceries Code Adjudicator is established".

Now neither of us is in the prediction business. We are in the present tense and this Bill will now establish a groceries code adjudicator, which I hope will find favour with the Government. At this stage of my short life in your Lordships' House, I should be delighted if I were able to improve a piece of legislation. This is an opportunity for the Government to accept this amendment. I beg to move.