This week will see one of those rare events  my own organisation's annual dinner  which over recent years has become a dinner for the entire retail sector, and a perfect opportunity to reflect upon the challenges and opportunities facing the sector.
The last 12 months have been generally good for retail. Despite the heavy falls that the stockmarket has experienced recently, consumer demand has held up well, and while growth in sales has slowed, it remains healthy and should be sustainable in the medium term.
This growth did not happen by accident, but by retailers giving customers what they want. In the food sector customers want convenience, a wide range of goods, new and interesting products, fresh produce available all year round, and at low prices.
The last 12 months have also seen us make good progress on some tough policy issues in co-operation with the government. These include the broad thrust of the recommendations from the Curry report, and the Organic Action Programme, where we were pleased that ministers accepted our argument against imposing targets.
However, there are several areas of concern across the whole sector, one of the biggest of which remains retail crime. Costing the industry £2.4bn per annum, this is an area which the government still fails to take sufficiently seriously. It should be a key performance indicator for the police, but it isn't. Even more frustratingly, the sums of money the government needs to provide to make a difference are not large, but the benefits to society  and to the industry, are.
Another issue still at the forefront of concern is regulation and enforcement. While everyone accepts some regulation is necessary, the BRC believes its extent is too great. This is particularly true in regards to employment legislation, where the extra costs and administration it has generated has had a huge detrimental effect on retail. Many regulations continue to be formulated with no serious thought to enforcement or to the practicality of the measures.
Large businesses can  and do  find the resources to cope. For the small businesses, there are real problems  and disproportionate costs  in keeping up with changing regulations and in ensuring compliance. We would like to see prospective regulations subject to greater external scrutiny, especially in relation to EU measures. Here it is vital that dialogue needs to be open, and it needs to start right at the beginning of the formulation of draft regulations and directives with sufficient time allowed for preparation.
At the BRC annual dinner last year, our previous chairman called for the creation of a minister for retail. Despite the suggestion in the press the job should be given to that champion of retail Elton John  the call was not facetious. Due to our very diversity and the fact retail is not a sector in crisis, there has been a long established tendency for governments to fail to take a strategic overview. This has led not only to a lack of joined up government for retailers, but policies created, it has seemed, with total ignorance of our sector.
As the largest employer in the UK and the sector that has done more than any other in the last 12 months to keep the economy in reasonable shape, it is vital that the retail sector's concerns are tackled in a strategic, constructive and timely way by the government. Not only for the sake of retailers but for the whole country.
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The last 12 months have been generally good for retail. Despite the heavy falls that the stockmarket has experienced recently, consumer demand has held up well, and while growth in sales has slowed, it remains healthy and should be sustainable in the medium term.
This growth did not happen by accident, but by retailers giving customers what they want. In the food sector customers want convenience, a wide range of goods, new and interesting products, fresh produce available all year round, and at low prices.
The last 12 months have also seen us make good progress on some tough policy issues in co-operation with the government. These include the broad thrust of the recommendations from the Curry report, and the Organic Action Programme, where we were pleased that ministers accepted our argument against imposing targets.
However, there are several areas of concern across the whole sector, one of the biggest of which remains retail crime. Costing the industry £2.4bn per annum, this is an area which the government still fails to take sufficiently seriously. It should be a key performance indicator for the police, but it isn't. Even more frustratingly, the sums of money the government needs to provide to make a difference are not large, but the benefits to society  and to the industry, are.
Another issue still at the forefront of concern is regulation and enforcement. While everyone accepts some regulation is necessary, the BRC believes its extent is too great. This is particularly true in regards to employment legislation, where the extra costs and administration it has generated has had a huge detrimental effect on retail. Many regulations continue to be formulated with no serious thought to enforcement or to the practicality of the measures.
Large businesses can  and do  find the resources to cope. For the small businesses, there are real problems  and disproportionate costs  in keeping up with changing regulations and in ensuring compliance. We would like to see prospective regulations subject to greater external scrutiny, especially in relation to EU measures. Here it is vital that dialogue needs to be open, and it needs to start right at the beginning of the formulation of draft regulations and directives with sufficient time allowed for preparation.
At the BRC annual dinner last year, our previous chairman called for the creation of a minister for retail. Despite the suggestion in the press the job should be given to that champion of retail Elton John  the call was not facetious. Due to our very diversity and the fact retail is not a sector in crisis, there has been a long established tendency for governments to fail to take a strategic overview. This has led not only to a lack of joined up government for retailers, but policies created, it has seemed, with total ignorance of our sector.
As the largest employer in the UK and the sector that has done more than any other in the last 12 months to keep the economy in reasonable shape, it is vital that the retail sector's concerns are tackled in a strategic, constructive and timely way by the government. Not only for the sake of retailers but for the whole country.
{{COMMENT - GUEST }}
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