We are urgently developing research requirements with other European laboratories to make sure we understand and the disease (Schmallenberg) better.Ombudsman would be bad for consumers, retailers claim
A LEADING retail representative told a fringe event that a retail ombudsman would actually damage consumers, rather than benefit them as the Competition Commission has suggested.
Andrew Opie, the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) food and consumer policy director denied that supermarkets were opposing the ombudsman because they ‘had something to hide’.
He said supermarkets dealt mainly with ‘very large’ manufacturers, some bigger than the supermarkets themselves, rather than directly with farmers or small manufacturers.
“Our main concern is that you will alter the balance between very large companies and retailers who are doing their best to get value for customers,” he said.
“We are suggesting that we want to build another quango to add extra cost into the supply chain that will ultimately be picked up by the consumer,” he said.
He claimed it would be ‘absolutely impossible’ to set up the ombudsman at a cost of less than £5 million a year
But farming and manufacturing representatives on the panel that was debating food security insisted there was a case for an ombudsman.
Julian Hunt, director of communications of the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), refuted Mr Opie’s suggestion that retailers dealt mainly with large suppliers.
He said while big companies were capable of standing up to retailers, the FDF was ‘concerned’ about its smaller members, who he said ‘needed a sense of fairness and transparency in the supply chain’. “That’s why we back the ombudsman,” he said.
NFU president Peter Kendall gave examples of the ‘unfair’ practices union members have complained about, such as retailers demanding upfront payments out of the blue as a condition of the relationship continuing.
He stressed that the Competition Commission was ‘really clear’ that these practices were not be in the consumer interest as they prevented investment by suppliers.
“The ombudsman must be fleet of foot, low cost and able to look below the surface,” he said.
The decision of whether new legislation requiring an ombudsman should be introduced is currently with Peter Mandelson’s Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
Farming Minister Jim Fitzpatrick refused to be drawn no when the announcement would be made. He said his job was to represent the industry’s view on this issue. “I have a personal view, Hilary Benn has a view but there are other Departments, which have different views,” he said.
