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Sunday Trading (Horticulture) Bill [HL]

My Lords, I got off a plane this morning from Abu Dhabi, where I was representing UK trade and investment in the Gulf this week. When I was there yesterday I was reminded that Abu Dhabi is one of those fabulous states that is really emerging into the globalised economy. It is doing very well and is a good friend of Britain—and it is greening. All the yellow is being moved to a land of green. It does the heart good, when you are banging the drum for British business, that some of the know-how from the companies selling the skill to develop grass and plants in a very arid part of the world comes from British businesses coming out of the horticultural sector of this country. Knowing what I was going to be doing after I got off the plane this morning, I thought that I should just remind noble Lords that this is another skill that this country has, which comes straight out of garden centres in this country. But I have to say that I do not think that opening on a Sunday is something that troubles Abu Dhabi. The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform actively supports the aspirations of all British businesses. We welcome the opportunity to think creatively about what we can do to help the horticultural sector thrive. I personally have a reputation, which I am delighted to have, for being a free trader and for allowing businesses to operate in as deregulatory an environment as possible. Therefore, I come at this today looking for creative solutions and, I hope, a way forward, because to allow businesses to thrive and get on must be at the heart of competitiveness in a globalised economy. Indeed, I can assure the noble Lord, Lord Addington, that the answer is not, ““No, never””. The door will always be open to creative ideas on this subject, which is under constant review. I am also grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Wilcox, for taking us through the current law, which is complicated and not very well understood by the shops of this country, let alone the consumers. I guess that Sir Terry Leahy is also extremely grateful at Tesco for her ad for the opening hours of Tesco in Great College Street. There are more than 200 garden centres in the United Kingdom, represented by the Garden Centre Association. I understand that the most recent figures available indicate that the entire horticultural sector may have been worth just under £5 billion—about £4.9 billion—in 2006. Those are big numbers. Garden centres contribute significantly to that total, and I suspect that those consumers who made more than 140 million customer visits to garden centres in 2006 thoroughly enjoyed the pleasurable activity. However, I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Addington, when he said that in the baskets that people took away from those centres there were probably a fair few things that had precious little to do with gardens. That, of course, would cause disquiet in other shops that were not allowed to do the same sort thing. I am therefore grateful to the noble Earl, Lord Courtown, for providing me with this opportunity to address the proposed effect of the Sunday Trading (Horticulture) Bill on the centres in England and Wales and to consider the wider effects of the Sunday Trading Act 1994. I have listened with interest to the views of noble Lords. I recognise the perspective that the noble Earl, Lord Courtown, and his supporters take on the Bill. Indeed, a free-trader such as me has sympathy with certain areas of it. However, the Government consider that views aside from those of the Horticultural Trades Association should be taken into account before the Bill proceeds through the House. Before I discuss the Government’s view on the central issue set out in the Bill, I must explain how the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has looked at the matter in the past. During several months in 2005 and 2006, what was then the Department of Trade and Industry sought the views of large and small retailers, faith groups, trades unions and the wider public on the effectiveness of the Sunday Trading Act 1994. Since 1994, the Sunday Trading Act has regulated the number of hours within which large shops—those over 280 square metres—may operate on Sundays. As noble Lords may know, large shops can open only for six continuous hours on Sunday between 10 am and 6 pm. Large garden centres come within the Act. Two years ago, as a valuable complement to that DTI review, my ministerial colleague the Member for Croydon North debated Sunday trading with Members of the other place. He welcomed the openness of that discussion and the variety of views, many strongly held, that were set out. The Government recognise that speakers on that occasion held a variety of views on Sunday trading. They seemed to agree, however, that a balance had been struck when the 1994 Act was drawn up in relation to the interests of retailers, consumers, shop workers and those who wished to preserve the traditional place of Sunday as a day distinct from the rest of the working week. I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Elton, and the noble Baroness, Lady Trumpington, for highlighting that there is a significant sector of our society to which Sunday is extremely special in many ways. We must not in the great quest for competitiveness and free trade ignore those views. A sense of community and what is right to certain communities matter in societies such as ours. The DTI’s review was timely, as the Sunday Trading Act 1994 had been in place for more than a dozen years and the balance of stakeholders’ interests needed to be re-examined: it is a constantly changing environment. The Government needed to reflect on stakeholders’ thoughts and learn more about what appetite there was for partial, or complete, deregulation. The community of stakeholders with which the Government engaged to realise this goal included large and small retailers and community groups especially, as well as the usual vested interests. Close to 1,000 responses were received during that consultation. Many of the views expressed, as your Lordships may guess, were disparate. The Horticultural Trades Association told the department that its members found themselves at a disadvantage because of the six-hour limit within which they were allowed to sell their goods on a Sunday. It believed that customers at garden centres were disadvantaged particularly when they turned up early, expecting their local garden centre to be open, and found that, as a consequence of the six-hour trading limit, it was not. Even worse, given that it is important to ensure that the customer always leaves a retail outlet with a good feeling, customers were on many occasions caught off guard by being asked to leave the sales area at a time which they considered to be early in the afternoon, again only because of the six-hour limit that garden centres face. One can almost hear now the assistant responding to complaints by saying, ““Don’t blame me; blame the Government””. While the DTI took those sector-specific views into consideration as part of the review, it recognised that the trades association was not able to provide evidence to reinforce them. After carefully considering all the views received during the consultation, including, I assure your Lordships, those of the Horticultural Trades Association, the then Secretary of State, Alistair Darling, announced in July 2006 that there would be no change to the existing Sunday trading law. He confirmed that the Sunday Trading Act had been in place for many years, that the Government should look at whether it was still appropriate, and contemplate changes if they were appropriate. The Government decided that that was not the right step to take at that time. It will come as no surprise, therefore, that the Government have issues with the Bill. The House will appreciate that the Government need to consider a range of evidence from across the social and trading piece. The key principles of better regulation compel them to consider carefully the impact of proposed regulatory change before action is taken. Any such action should be proportionate to the need for change. It is a principle of good government, therefore, that Ministers ensure that there is a compelling case for change. They should be sure that the interests of business, employees and consumers have been taken into account and that they can be met equitably if change is to be effected. When considering their position on the Bill, the Government had to consider the appropriateness of the existing regulatory framework. They also had to consider the evidence indicating that change was necessary. I hope that the noble Earl, Lord Courtown, and other noble Lords appreciate why the Government, after giving the changes set out in the Bill the necessary consideration, are compelled to voice reservations about the change that the Bill advocates. We are being asked to consider the Bill without supporting evidence and in the absence of other relevant points of view, as I have just recited. The Government’s view might of course be affected in future should the appropriate evidence be presented to them. As I assured the noble Lord, Lord Addington, this is not ““no, never””. The evidence should indicate what impact there might be on employment, the economy, on competitiveness and wealth creation. Noble Lords may be assured that this Minister will always take those into account. The Government might reconsider their view also if they knew the views of all interested stakeholders and not just those of one trade association, no matter how right it may feel that they are. For example, we would be interested to hear the Garden Centre Association’s view of the Bill’s proposals, especially if it has some statistical information that might help quantify the scale of any disadvantage consumers experience due to the present Sunday trading regulatory arrangements. It would be wrong to ignore or fly in the face of properly and honourably held views about the position of Sunday in our society. The noble, Earl Lord Ferrers, mentioned Easter Day, which has significance in the hearts of so many people in this country. However, it moves around—this year was the earliest Easter Day for nearly 100 years and I doubt whether many garden centres suffered much loss of trade in early March. The views of relevant employers and trade unions would also be relevant to us if we re-evaluate the present legislation. Having given the House the news, I again thank the noble Earl, Lord Courtown, for the opportunity to discuss his Bill. I give the House the assurance that I shall, of course, ensure that the report of this debate is shown to the relevant Minister in the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. I will also recommend that my officials follow the progress of the Bill through the House. I welcome the subject being aired one more time and encourage the development of more statistical evidence.