The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has urged the government to work with Albert Owen MP following the introduction of his Private Members’ Bill, which would introduce a grocery supply ombudsman.
The decision by the MP for Ynys Mon to use his place in the ballot to pursue a Private Members’ Bill to establish a Grocery Market Ombudsman, will help the government put in place the proactive and robust enforcement mechanism for the new Grocery Suppliers Code of Practice (GSCOP), which goes live at the start of February 2010, according to the union body.
NFU president Peter Kendall said: “After nearly 10 years of investigations into the grocery market, Albert Owen's Private Members’ Bill, sponsored by MPs from across the House of Commons, should bring this long-running saga to an end. His intervention provides government with an opportunity to deliver the Competition Commission's recommendations in full and I would urge ministers to work with him. For our part we will provide every support to him in the drafting of this bill.”
The Competition Commission has formally recommended to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills that it should establish an ombudsman to arbitrate on disputes between grocery retailers and suppliers and investigate complaints under the new GSCOP.
Although the Competition Commission published its final report in April 2008, outlining a suite of remedies to curb the abuse of market power, to date the revised code is the only remedy in place.
The NFU believes an ombudsman acting as a proactive enforcer of a strengthened code of practice would give suppliers the confidence to invest and innovate and produce a greater range of quality products for consumers, and is therefore clearly in consumers' best interests.
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