What?

The BRC officially services the All Party Parliamentary Retail Industry Group. The essential purpose of this group is two-fold. It is a campaigning vehicle to reach parliamentarians with an interest in the retail sector; and it is a means of raising the profile of the industry in the wider political forum, by providing information about and communicating the policy position of the industry. The Group has over 130 members and is still growing.

The BRC remains on good terms with Ministers and civil servants; as evidenced by our dialogue with the Government on the disposal of fridges and freezers, and by our involvement in retail crime reduction initiatives.

However, there is a need to raisethe profile of the retail industry in the parliamentary arena. The APPRIG'spriority will be to address this issue by putting the retail industry on theagenda of every parliamentarian, and emphasising the importance of the industryin their local constituencies.

Who?

The current APPRIG officers are:

Chairman - Barbara FollettMP

Vice Chairmen:

- Nigel Evans MP
- Brian Cotter MP
- Rev Martin Smyth MP
- The Rt Hon The Lord Graham of Edmonton

Honorary Secretary - The Baroness Thornton

How?

Retail champions

Within the group; a team of 'retailchampions' play an active role supporting the Government where retailers areco-operating to achieve its policy objectives, and challenging the Governmentwhere its policies hamper enterprise and innovation. Looking ahead, the retailchampions will also provide a parliamentary response to Government announcementsand some will adopt specialist positions on specific issues of interest.

The retail champions are:

The Lord Blackwell
The Lord Clark of Windermere
The Lord Clement-Jones
The Lord Davies of Coity
The Lord Fyfe of Fairfield
The Baroness Gardner of Parkes
The Lord MacLaurin of Knebworth
The Lord Roper
The Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover
The Baroness Thornton