Groceries Code Adjudicator Bill [HL]

I hope the Minister and also the noble Lord, Lord Browne, will forgive my intervention in the ear...

My Lords, we are off to a marvellous start. This is a great level to start at—whether we are doin...

Would “shall be” make a difference?

It might. I wonder if the noble Lord, Lord Browne, would be kind enough to let me take this away ...

My Lords, I will be more than content to withdraw my amendment, and to go away and reflect on the...

Moved by

Viscount Eccles

2: Clause 1, leave out Clause 1 and insert the following new...

My Lords, I start by thanking my noble friend for letters that have been deposited in the Library...

I am most grateful to the noble Viscount for giving way. Has he seen the briefing that has been p...

My Lords, I am grateful for that intervention, and no doubt we shall come on to discuss the clima...

My Lords, perhaps I may intervene at this point. Most Members of the Committee know that I had a ...

My Lords, perhaps I may respond to the remarks made by the noble Lord, Lord Borrie, by saying tha...

My Lords, I very much support the Bill. I should like to pick up on a phrase used by the noble Vi...

My Lords, I am sure that we are all extremely grateful to the noble Viscount, Lord Eccles, for gi...

Perhaps I may ask the noble Lord a short question. What part does he think that the public plays ...

I am grateful to the noble Viscount for his intervention. Clearly, the public are the consumers. ...

I must declare an interest as I have a tenant who is a direct supplier to a supermarket. The exam...

It is very helpful to have the contribution of the noble Lord, Lord Howard, because he has a part...

My Lords, this group of amendments goes to the very heart of the Bill. It concerns whether or not...

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend and to all noble Lords who have taken part in this sho...

Perhaps I may intervene to say something I should have said earlier. I chair the Leckford Estate ...

I am grateful to the noble Lord for his intervention, but I doubt whether a state-appointed sole ...

For how long did the noble Viscount’s steering pump parts last if he had to store them? What was ...

We did not know how soon Delphi would change its designs because there was a range of power steer...

Before the noble Viscount sits down, is he prepared to address my point that the proposal was in ...

Luckily, I am just a vulnerable ancient Conservative Back-Bencher who does not feel in any way co...

Moved by

Lord Knight of Weymouth

3: After Clause 1, insert the following new Clause—<...

My Lords, many of the debates we have had on the Bill, and will no doubt continue to have, are of...

Very briefly, I am sure that the noble Lord recognises that in doing this he goes far beyond the ...

I support my Front Bench colleague at this stage. As at Second Reading, I declare my interests as...

The noble Lord, Lord Knight, has brought us an interesting amendment, supported by his colleague,...

I am grateful to the noble Baroness on that matter but I am struggling a little. Fundamental to t...

No, I do not suppose for one minute that the noble Lord has misunderstood, because I spoke quite ...

I am kind of grateful to the Minister for that. The noble Viscount, Lord Eccles, was in many ways...

Moved by

Lord Browne of Ladyton

4: Schedule 1, page 11, line 8, at end insert “, foll...

My Lords, the purpose of this group of amendments is twofold. It is, first, to explore the nature...

My Lords, I am reluctant to disagree somewhat with my noble friend, who has argued so eloquently ...

Will my noble friend do two things for me before he sits down? First, will he address with the sa...

With respect to my noble friend, he has not, in his question to me, dealt with the fundamental po...

My noble friend set a test for me that he knew I must fail, because the adjudicator does not have...

The only thing that I can say is that it has been the deliberate intention of the Government thro...

Perhaps I could ask the noble Lord, Lord Browne, whether we have any other adjudicators.

The honest answer to the noble Viscount is that we have many adjudicators. We call them judges. H...

Before my noble friend Lord Grantchester responds, I will say very briefly to the noble Viscount,...

I rise to propose Amendment 5. Far be it from me to come between my two noble friends on Amendmen...

With great respect to the noble Lord, I think he means that he is speaking to Amendment 5, not pr...

Sorry, speaking to Amendment 5—moving Amendment 5.

No, speaking to Amendment 5.

I thank the Deputy Chairman for clarifying that. We have approached it in a simple, straightforwa...

My Lords, these amendments concern the independence of the adjudicator and, in particular, how th...

I am grateful to the Minister for dealing so comprehensively with the constituent elements of my ...

Before my noble friend withdraws his amendment, I ask his indulgence so that I can come back to t...

I am grateful to my noble friend for expanding my peroration quite significantly. The only point ...

Moved by

Lord Browne of Ladyton

9: Schedule 1, page 13, line 9, at end insert—

...

My Lords, I do not seek to dominate the debates in this Committee and I hope that my amendments w...

I support the noble Lord, Lord Browne of Ladyton. In particular, I will back up his arguments on ...

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for tabling these amendments and concur with the viewpoint of th...

My Lords, I fully recognise the interests of the devolved Administrations in this Bill: of the no...

My Lords, I confess to being disappointed. It would appear that we have resorted to type in relat...

Moved by

Lord Browne of Ladyton

10: Schedule 1, page 13, line 22, at end insert—

My Lords, this is a probing amendment. This adjudicator is a creature of statute. He can have onl...

My Lords, I fully recognise the importance of ensuring that the adjudicator has the powers necess...

My noble friend raises an interesting point and I thought that I would wait to hear whether the n...

The noble Lord, Lord Knight, will be pleased to know that we are ahead of him on this. The adjudi...

I am grateful to the noble Baroness. It is the “incidental” that would worry me the most were I a...

The noble Baroness asked whether I am reassured. I am. How could I not be, given her explanation ...

Moved by

Lord Browne of Ladyton

11: Schedule 1, page 13, line 24, leave out “Office o...

My Lords, noble Lords will be pleased to hear that I will not be insisting on these amendments. T...

My Lords, I will speak to Amendments 12, 96, 124 in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Gran...

My Lords, on the amendments tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Browne of Ladyton, I recognise that in...

The noble Baroness is of course right to refer to the first report of the Delegated Powers and Re...

Perhaps if I go back and continue for two paragraphs, we might find something a bit more helpful....

My Lords, I look forward to the Government’s amendments at a later stage of the Bill and, althoug...

Moved by

Lord Browne of Ladyton

13: Clause 2, page 1, line 7, leave out from “must” t...

My Lords, the other amendments in this group are consequential on the first, and challenge the pe...

My Lords, I do not know if this will help or at least shorten what I need to say in the debate on...

The noble Lord, Lord Browne of Ladyton, has raised an important question that it is well worth us...

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Viscount, Lord Eccles, for expanding into a potentially frui...

I will try to be brief. I start by coming back to Professor Lyons, whose views were set out in pa...

I am grateful to the noble Lord. As we have already heard, Waitrose, as one of the big retailers,...

I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Knight. I have looked at that with some care and he is quit...

Given that the noble Viscount had said that there were no suppliers, I merely wanted to offer the...

My Lords, my noble friend Lord Eccles has already made clear that he believes that the adjudicato...

I am only talking about expectations. It is up to Members of the Committee to make up their minds...

I am grateful to my noble friend. Perhaps I may ask whether that last comment was on Part 2 of th...

It refers to Article 11 of the order.

Yes—Article 11.

The order already gives the right to suppliers to arbitration, in accordance with Article 11. I a...

Yes.

I apologise.

6.30 pm

I thank my noble friend. I want to reiterate that I do not read anything in Article 11 that curre...

Moved by

Lord Browne of Ladyton

20: Clause 3, page 1, line 15, at end insert—

“...

My Lords, I shall not detain the Committee long with my amendments in this group. They are design...

This is an important issue. It is clearly important that documents subject to legal professional ...

I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Moved by

Lord Browne of Ladyton

23: Clause 4, page 2, line 5, after “may” insert “, e...

My Lords, I should like to speak to my own amendment in this group, Amendment 26. Something that ...

My Lords, the purpose of this amendment is to give the adjudicator a basis for investigating an a...

I join in the query of the noble Lord, Lord Teverson, to the Minister, which I hope she can answe...

My Lords, I feel I should first finish declaring my interests: I am a farmer as well. I find it r...

My Lords, I declare a past interest. We are still farmers, but we do not supply supermarkets any ...

My Lords, I wish to state clearly that I do not agree with the arguments of my noble friend Lord ...

The noble Baroness, Lady Byford, and others said exactly what I would have. I am an NFU member. I...

Picking up on quite wide-ranging amendments, I think that on this side we are content that includ...

I thank all noble Lords. We are considering three amendments in this group—two intended to make i...

My Lords, at Second Reading the Minister said that there would be no restrictions on who could co...

Before the noble Lord sits down, I realise that I omitted a response to my noble friend Lord Howa...

I will finish what I had to say. I was pleased that the nature of our debate in Committee this af...

Moved by

Viscount Eccles

24: Clause 4, page 2, line 6, leave out “suspect” and insert...

My Lords, I will read out a sentence that is relevant to my amendment and also to the one we have...

My Lords, the amendment would alter the criterion for starting an investigation so that the adjud...

My Lords, I thank my noble friend, although I will come back to the matter because I am not satis...

Moved by

Baroness Byford

28: Schedule 2, page 14, line 20, leave out “is more than 10...

My Lords, we have moved on to looking at investigations. My amendment seeks to amend Schedule 2(6...

My Lords, I am interested in the noble Baroness’s amendment. I shall not comment on it at length,...

My Lords, I can understand why my noble friend is asking this question because she lives in the c...

I thank my noble friend for that response. I am not wedded to the half-hour period suggested in t...

Moved by

Lord Browne of Ladyton

32: Clause 5, page 2, line 20, at end insert “; and