Supermarkets: Competition
Business, Innovation and Skills
Jim Cunningham (Coventry South, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he plans to include in his Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill legislative proposals to give the adjudicator the power to fine supermarkets.
Norman Lamb (North Norfolk, Liberal Democrat)
The Government believes that the adjudicator's ability to investigate, make recommendations and instruct companies to publish details of any breach of the code will create a powerful deterrent to breaching the code and lead to high levels of compliance. However, the Government intends to include a reserve power to impose financial penalties in the Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill. This will allow the Secretary of State to grant the adjudicator the power to impose fines if the other sanctions do not prove effective.