Horticultural Sector Committee: inquiry to hear evidence from Tesco and the Groceries Code Adjudicator

At 10.30am on Thursday 20 July 2023 the House of Lords Horticultural Sector Committee will be hearing evidence from:

• Dominic Morrey, Commercial Director for Fresh Food & Commodities, Tesco.

At 11am the committee will hear from:

• Mark White, Groceries Code Adjudicator.

These evidence sessions, which are open to the public, will be held in Committee Room 3 of the House of Lords and streamed live on Parliament TV.

Topics likely to be covered in these sessions include:

• How Tesco ensures its horticultural sector suppliers are receiving a fair return for their produce.
• How Tesco works with its suppliers to ensure the welfare of seasonal workers in its supply chain.
• Progress Tesco is making towards reducing its environmental footprint.
• Proportion of the edible and ornamental produce sold by Tesco that is imported and how this impacts food security.
• Role of the Groceries Code Adjudicator (GCA) and the Groceries Supply Code of Practice (GSCOP).
• Whether the GCA has adequate resources and sufficient scope and powers to effectively deliver against its role.
• Likely outcomes of the Government’s statutory review of the GCA for 2019-2022 and Defra’s forthcoming review of supply chain fairness for the horticultural sector.

More about this inquiry

The cross-party Horticultural Sector Committee is considering the challenges, opportunities and risks faced by the horticultural sector, including the impact of rising input costs and labour and skills shortages, and how innovative technologies might address these issues and other pressing challenges such as the impact of climate change on productivity and food supply. In addition, it will explore how policy can support the sector in meeting the Government’s ambitions for levelling up and post-Brexit trade policy. It will publish its report by the end of this year.