Tuppen under fire over BISC remarks
Tuppen called the committee process a “political pantomime” at Business in Sport and Leisure’s (BISL’s) annual conference in London last week, and aired frustration at the lack of a “right of reply” afforded to pubcos.
The BISC recommended a statutory code of practice for the pub industry in September, claiming that the “deep-seated” problems between pubcos and their tenants had not been sufficiently addressed.
“A powerful and confident government should instil proper analytical discipline rather than political pantomime that we sometimes have to endure in select committees,” said Tuppen.
“I believe the last two reviews in 2009 and earlier this year were an affront to our democratic process. Short of time for a proper review, the select committee spouted the opinion of a handful of campaigners without bothering to check the facts.
“Using parliamentary privilege to exaggerate, insult and mislead is not what a select committee should do, particularly when accusations are made without the support of proper evidence, and without the basic right of reply enshrined in the realms of British law.”
However, the Enterprise boss’s remarks have been met with disappointment by the BISC chairman Adrian Bailey MP, and committee member Brian Binley MP.
“Many of the select committee’s recommendations were drawn from a survey carried out by the British Beer & Pub Association, of which Tuppen is a member,” said Bailey. We have had several select committee re-ports over the past eight years. They all exposed the same problems and practices that Tuppen and others failed to rectify. His comments show the complacency and resistance to change that has forced the BISC to recommend a statutory code.”
Binley, who confronted Tuppen during the committee hearings, said: “There are concerns about the in-formation given to new
tenants and I questioned Tuppen on it.
“We’ve had too many complaints from licensees about this and all the members of the committee want is fairness. If we have fairness, we have a chance of maintaining the jewel of the crown of social networking in this country, which is the pub.
“Tuppen is a very robust business manager and the questioning I gave him was robust. I don’t know what else he’d have expected.”
Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers strategic affairs director and Independent Pub Confederation secretary Kate Nicholls said: “There was a huge amount of independent research on which the committee based its conclusions, and it does a disservice to the officials who carried out the research.”
Business Secretary Vince Cable said last week the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills will issue its response to the
committee’s report by the end of this month.
