Bill Esterson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Bill Esterson on 2016-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions he has had with the Pubs Code Adjudicator on (a) the length of leases given to pub tenants by owners of pubs, (b) implementation of the market rent only option for pub tenants and (c) the independence of the adjudicator from pub companies.

Anna Soubry

There have been no discussions of the types described with the Adjudicator.

BIS officials met the Adjudicator after his appointment to provide him with a high level briefing on Part 4 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act and some areas of the draft Pubs Code in order to familiarise him with key aspects ahead of him taking up this important role. During the course of this briefing there was a discussion of some technical aspects of the market rent option arbitration process – for example, the length of time it takes to appoint an independent expert – where the Adjudicator shared his professional insights.