Our contents this week:
Retail, Food & Hospitality updates
Faulty goods and services cost consumers £71.2 Billion in 2024: This is the headline figure of a consumer detriment survey commissioned by the Competition and Markets Authority and published by the Department for Business and Trade. 72% of respondents had suffered consumer detriment in the twelve-month period. 61% of reported instances related to services and 49% to goods. For goods 35% of complaints related to poor quality. Goods most involved included 2nd hand and new cars, clothing, footwear and accessories and electronic devices and software. A mixed picture emerged by sector and product as to whether detriment was in on-line or face to face transactions.View >Chartered Trading Standards Institute >
House of Lords debates food, diet and obesity report: On Friday 28th March the House of Lords debated the report of the Food, Diet and Obesity Select Committee ‘Recipe for health: a plan to fix our broken food system’. Baroness Merron, Parliamentary under-secretary of State at the Department of Health and Social Care stated during the debate that the Government were in full agreement about the characterisation of the problem as set out in the report and that ‘We will need new measures to further improve the food environment, more measures to trigger the reformulation of less healthy products and more support for people to make healthier choices’ and ‘We know we have to go further, where previous Governments have not done so. I look forward to being able to set out further actions that we will take in due course’. The Chair of the select committee lady Walmsley in closing urged the Government to follow Tony Blair’s advice to be bold and highlighted that members would be watching. Local Government >Hansard >
DEFRA Secretary outlines Government commitment to circular economy: Environment Secretary Steve Reed has outlined plans to publish a circular economy strategy in the autumn focussing initially on five sectors that DEFRA considers have the greatest potential to grow the economy: chemicals and plastics; construction; textiles; transport; and agrifood. The Circular economy task force will focus on developing road maps for these sectors.Speeches >News >WRAP >Guidance >
Sentencing council refuses to back down over community and custodial sentence guidelines: Further correspondence has taken place between the Lord Chancellor and Chair of the Sentencing Council on the inclusion of ethnic, cultural and faith minority groups in the list of those for whom a pre-sentence report normally would be necessary. The Lord Chancellor took the view that such inclusion represents ‘impermissible differential treatment’. The Sentencing council maintains that the guidelines were developed following proper process and aim to provide information to the judge / magistrate leaving them better informed in dealing with the offender and that they may well not help an offender in avoiding a custodial sentence. The Sentencing Council has offered to publish an ‘explanatory statement’ to correct misunderstandings that might have arisen following comment by the Shadow Lord Chancellor that a two tier sentencing system was being created. A response from the Government is awaited.View >
EU updates
Omnibus Directive - EU Council ‘Stop the clock’ on EU Sustainability Directives: As part of its competitiveness agenda the EU Council has delayed the reporting requirements under the EU Corporate Social Responsibility Directive by two-years and implementation of the EU Sustainability due diligence Directive by one-year.View >
EU Regulations:
- Authorising biocides:sodium hypochlorite liquid disinfectant >
- Setting maximum residue levels for plant protection products:cycloxydim, dichlorprop-P, flupyradifurone, methyl nonyl ketone, plant oils/citronella oil, potassium sorbate and potassium phosphonate >
European Food Safety Authority opinions:
- On modification of maximum reside levels for plant protection product: deltamethrin >
Developments to watch
Home Office: To add Ninja swords to banned weapons list. View >
DEFRA: Publish update on Avian flu epidemic including evidence of spread to animals– 28th March.View > View >
Gambling Commission: To ban mixed product promotion from 31st December 2025. View >
Pubs Code Adjudicator: Writes to landlords over price match on insurance contract rights of tenants.View >
Chartered Trading Standards Institute: Welcome £10m funding from Department of Health and Social Care for tobacco and vapes enforcement.View > View >
For your information
Non-food product safety alerts: Office for Product Safety and Standards >EU Safety Gate >US Consumer Product Safety Commission >
2025-26 Work plans published:
Competition and Markets Authority. View >
OFCOM. View >
Financial Conduct Authority: Publish five-year strategy. View >
Re-Appointment: Tony Juniper, Chair, Natural England. View >
