Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to maximise the effectiveness of the Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator.

The Agricultural Supply Chain Adjudicator (ASCA) has been appointed to oversee and enforce the Fair Dealing Regulations for the Milk and Pig Sectors, providing a route for raising issues and complaints where parties believe the rules have not been followed.

Since being appointed, the ASCA has carried out a wide range of proactive activities to engage with the sectors to raise awareness of the regulations and provide support, including but not limited to running surveys, attending and speaking at conferences and agricultural shows, farm visits and convening sector roundtables.

To further support producers, the ASCA also established an in-confidence email channel to enable producers to raise issues anonymously with the ASCA.