WITNESS VIEWS
126. A number of contributors were quite critical
of what they perceived to be Government neglect of traditional
retail markets. Some identified an apparent lack of clarity as
to where responsibility lay in Government for traditional retail
markets. The suggestion was that markets were, in a sense, victims
of their own versatility, as different aspects of markets were
scattered across different government departments. For Anne Coffey
MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Markets Group (APPMG),
"getting access to central government decision-making"
was a major challenge, because "at least seven government
departments were involved". She argued for a "Markets
Minister who would have responsibility for ensuring that support
was given to markets across government departments and obviously
could be a focus for government departments to send policy initiatives
to, to check that they included support for markets".[222]
Simon Quin, one of a number of witnesses with similar views, also
observed with regard to government departments that "because
everyone perhaps has them [ie markets] somewhere on their agenda,
they have not been focused on or taken seriously",[223]
whilst Graham Wilson stressed "we desperately need a co-ordinating
role."[224]
127. Tim Hirst, Assistant Director, Commercial and
Support Services, City of Bradford Metropolitan Council, and Malcolm
Veigas, Assistant Director (Community Services) Bolton Metropolitan
Council, felt that a lead Minister or at least a lead departmental
official could act to raise the profile of markets "in the
same way that central government has raised the profile, in the
work they have done over the last couple of years, on, say creative
industries."[225]
Southwark Council criticised the absence of an "overarching
holistic approach"[226]
by Government. George Nicholson, Secretary NRPF, felt that there
should be a Minister to champion markets, and argued that the
Minister should sit in the Department for Business, Enterprise
and Regulatory Reform [now the Department for Business, Innovation
and Skills], as "markets have an economic purpose. They are
businesses."[227]
Other contributors, however, argued that the correct department
for a Markets Minister was CLG because its wider planning, social
cohesion and local government responsibilities better covered
the wider economic and non-economic benefits that markets can
deliver.
128. Witnesses and submissions suggested that a more
co-ordinated approach to Government might involve Government support
for "further research into the scale and value of retail
and wholesale markets in the UK",[228]
better national promotion of markets and, crucially, wider recognition
within Government that the market industry and market traders
should be eligible for national funding and support from wider
national schemes. Graham Wilson, for example, argued that "if
we had a minister championing markets that minister would flag
up the importance of markets in terms of embracing some of the
New Start schemes that come out from various agencies.[229]
Other evidence suggested that central government should give
clearer direction to Regional Development Agencies to ensure that
they considered investment in traditional retail markets within
their regional regeneration strategies.
129. Jean-Paul Auguste, head of the Geraud Group
of markets, which operates Europe-wide, told us that markets "have
a champion in France. There is a sort of minister for small businesses.
He is our contact within the government." [230]
He noted that the Minister provided practical help, for instance
by helping to reduce bureaucracy for market traders by reducing
the amount of commercial paperwork required by different Ministries
from eight separate documents to one. He also said that this
Minister had helped the markets industry to lobby the European
Union again from the perspective of combating bureaucracy:
[
] there was to be a rule about stickers to
be placed on every food product. A trader preparing some fooda
charcuterie for example a patewould have been obliged to
give at zero point something per cent the components of his pate
on the market day. Tomorrow it is impossible to get the same composition
each day [
][231]
Complementary to this, the consultancy firm Markets
Place (Europe) promoted the adaptation of the Dutch model whereby
"a civil servant in their equivalent of the DTI has special
responsibility for markets and, following consultation processes
with the main players and organisations within their market industry,
reports to their equivalent of the Communities and Local Government
Select Committee. As a result, Holland now has a well administered,
progressive and thriving market industry."[232]
130. A number of witnesses felt not only that the
Government should be doing more for markets, but also that the
Government was missing opportunities to use markets as a vehicle
to pursue a variety of national objectives. Job creation, for
instance, is a major concern not just for the markets industry
seeking to attract new blood to address a declining, ageing market
trader population, but also for Government seeking to boost employment
opportunities in a recession. As Graham Wilson's comment earlier
in this section suggests, the industry has concerns that markets
and market traders are not sufficiently tied in to wider Government
employment initiatives. Whilst there was certainly evidence of
local authority/PCT initiatives to promote the healthy eating
agenda, witnesses also felt that the Government could be doing
more to encourage and expand these local initiatives. Malcolm
Veigas, for example, suggested that, with regard to the 'Change
for Life' campaign, an NHS initiative seeking to encourage children
to eat more healthily, move more and live longer:
[
] if within the nuances of the ongoing campaign
over the next 12 months, or whatever, more and more references
could be made to the markets generallyin terms of low-cost
food staples, alternatives to go away and change your lifestyle
not just by buying there but going to market once, twice or three
times a week and doing it by foot etc, and you can then subliminally
get that message across, in terms of the bigger picture message
in terms of health generallythat would be really useful
and it would not cost any money.[233]
As we have seen in previous sections, similar examples
can be found in relation to the social cohesion, town regeneration
and environmental agendas. We have also seen the potential for
markets to convey Government information and advice on a range
of issues to otherwise hard to reach groups, and in his evidence
session the Minister appeared sympathetic to the opportunities
presented here.
CONCLUSION
131. It
should not be central government's role to intervene in the future
of individual markets. Markets are nothing if not local, and it
is for local authorities to be the key source of public support.[234]
The future of the industry is best served by an active partnership
between the key industry organisations, including market trader
organisations, and local authorities.
132. We recognise too that individual government
departments have a track record of working with marketsthe
Government evidence referred for instance to DEFRA's work promoting
farmers' markets. We
are concerned however that there is a lack of clarity within
central government as to who has overall responsibility for markets,
as opposed to an interest in certain aspects of them.
We believe that this handicaps local government and the industry
when they want to make a case for strategic changefor instance
with regard to markets legislation, or the national promotion
of markets or to tie in with wider government initiatives. We
believe it also handicaps central government, as markets can end
up 'off the radar', increasing the risk that individual departments
miss opportunities to use markets as a vehicle to promote a key
objective. There
are actions that the Government could take, beyond production
of strategic planning guidance, better to fulfil its proper strategic
role in relation to markets.
133. A number of witnesses proposed the creation
of a Markets Minister, perhaps along the lines of the Minister
for Veterans, who sits in the Ministry of Defence but, in recognition
of the extent to which veterans issues cross departmental boundaries,
also takes responsibility for co-ordinating veterans policy across
Whitehall. Veterans are obviously a central government issue.
We are not convinced that
there is a sufficiently strong case to appoint a Markets Minister.
Because their character is so influenced by the locality that
they serve, markets are rightly primarily a local government issue.
134. We do nevertheless
see a need for a clear central government focus for markets, and
recommend that the lead should lie with CLG in recognition both
of the wider community aspects of markets and the key role of
local government. Furthermore, as we have
observed in successive reports on CLG's Departmental Annual Reports,[235]
the achievement of many of CLG's objectives is dependent upon
co-ordinating delivery with other government departments, and
this too seems a good fit with the markets portfolio. The Minister
appeared sympathetic to this approach, commenting that "there
is a good role to play with our interaction with local authorities,
our responsibility for planning frameworks and making sure of
that wider sense of wellbeing. I can see CLG having a key role
to play there."[236]
However, we were disheartened during this inquiry to learn that
the Minister who came to give evidence to us on markets had, in
two and a half years as Minister, met market industry representatives
on only "one or two occasions [
] I think it might have
been the once."[237]This
points to a disturbing lack of active engagement. The Government's
level of engagement must improve. We
recommend, therefore, that CLG takes on responsibility for providing
a clear strategic central government focus for markets, and that
this is reflected in the portfolio of a named Minister, in the
terms of reference of a senior civil servant in the Department
and in active engagement with the market industry.
135. We further
recommend that CLG lead an inter-departmental working group to
ensure that departments make best use of markets as a vehicle
to further wider Government objectives as set out in this report.
CLG would then become the clear first point of government contact
for the industry and local authorities to take concerns about
legislationand as discussed previously we are aware of
at least one live issue, that involving market London legislation,
that requires Government considerationand other big picture
issues, such as the national promotion of English markets.
208 Q 300 Back
209
Q 303 Back
210
Planning Policy Statement: Consultation, Consultation paper
on a new Planning Policy Statement 4: Planning for Prosperous
Economies. Back
211
Communities and Local Government Committee, Tenth Report of Session
2008-09, Need and impact: planning for town centres, HC
517. Back
212
PPS Consultation, p 24, EC6.1 (4) Back
213
PPS Consultation, p 4, EC6.1 (6) Back
214
PPS Consultation, p 39, Annex A (A4) Back
215
Planning for Town Centres, p 45 Back
216
Q 59 Back
217
Q 299 Back
218
Q 298 Back
219
Q 311 Back
220
Q 302 Back
221
Q 309 Back
222
Q 17 Back
223
Q 89 Back
224
Q 105 Back
225
Q 156 Back
226
Ev 79 Back
227
Q 284 Back
228
Ev 97 Back
229
Q 108 Back
230
Q 285 Back
231
Q 287 Back
232
Ev 162 Back
233
Q 156 Back
234
The Committee looked in detail at the balance of power between
central and local government in its Sixth Report of Session 2008-09,
The Balance of Power: Central and Local Government, HC
33-I. Back
235
Communities and Local Government Committee, Second Report of Session
2008-09, Communities and Local Government: Departmental Annual
Report 2008, HC 238 and Communities and Local Government Committee,
Second Report of Session 2007-08, Communities and Local Government:
Departmental Annual Report 2007, HC 170. Back
236
Q 308 Back
237
Qq 329-330 Back