Written evidence submitted by Waitrose (END0037)
1. Why did you decide to roll out the voluntary ban on sale of energy drinks to under 16s?
We are one of the only major supermarkets operating in the UK which is a Partnership, owned by employees of the John Lewis Partnership and not by shareholders. Every year we share the profits which the business earns with all the Partners (employees). We believe that it is because of, not despite, this different way of doing things that we can take a longer term view on issues such as this.
We were the first supermarket to decide to sell these products in line with the labelling guidance. These drinks carry advice stating that they are not recommended for children, so we chose to proactively act on that guidance, particularly given the widespread concerns which have been raised about these drinks when consumed by under 16s.
2. How have you enforced the ban?
The ban was added to our age restricted sales policies and procedures in March 2018.
We also provided our Partners with the relevant training and till prompts to enable them to carry out the appropriate age verification checks at the point of sale.
3. What has been your overall, as well as your staff’s, experience of enforcing the ban?
Enforcing the ban is part of our everyday age restricted sales process in all of our shops.
4. How do you monitor compliance of the ban, ensuring that all staff are enforcing it?
Compliance of the age restriction is monitored in the same way as for all age restricted products - namely the use of a third party company who conduct simulated test purchases. Any failure/sale would result in standard corrective action and retraining.
5. Based on your experience of the voluntary ban, would you be in favour of a legal ban? If so, from which age?
As an apolitical business we don’t feel it would be appropriate for us to call for legislation. We took our decision based on what we felt was right for our business, our Partners and our customers.