Government responds to Committee’s Report into Pub Companies

While the Government has not committed itself to statutory intervention as we would have hoped, it has accepted the Committee’s view that Pub Companies’ Codes of Practice should be strengthened and made legally binding. It is not yet clear how the Government will make these codes legally binding and more detail is needed for the Committee to properly assess the proposed package of reforms. Therefore, the Committee will be calling the Minister to give evidence so that the proposals can be explored in more detail.

Adrian Bailey, Chair of the Committee said:

“The Government has not delivered the statutory intervention we recommended but has proposed an alternative which it believes will deliver the same results. How this will work and whether it will be comparable to statutory intervention is open to question. For that reason, we are calling the Minister before us so that he can set out in detail how he will deliver this package of reforms.”