Matthew Pennycook – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Matthew Pennycook on 2016-02-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what recent assessment he has made of the extent of anti-competitive practices in the newspaper wholesale market.

Nick Boles

Responsibility for considering competition issues in the UK falls to the independent competition authorities. Since 2014 this role has been carried out by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT), the predecessor of the CMA, conducted a detailed investigation of the operation of the distribution arrangements for the supply of newspapers and magazines in England and Wales over a number of years. In September 2009, the OFT decided that, although there might be competition concerns, developments benefiting consumers could come about from industry parties self-assessing their distribution agreements following competition guidance provided by the OFT.

The OFT considered that it would not be feasible for the Competition Commission to obtain the necessary evidence at that time properly to assess how the supply chains were likely to evolve in the short term. This decision was reviewed and confirmed in March 2012 and was upheld by the Competition Appeal Tribunal in October 2012.