§ 29. Mr. Moonmanasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will give consideration to recommencing the weekly spot checks on department store sales to enable a more accurate and up-to-date analysis of spending behaviour to be made.
§ Mr. CroslandI do not propose to reinstate the weekly inquiry on sales of department stores, but instead to obtain regular reports from certain large retail groups covering all goods except food.
§ Mr. MoonmanDoes my right hon. Friend appreciate that we have had enough hard lessons in the last 12 months in the management of the economy not to recognise that many of the problems and complexities of consumer spending have created real problems in getting the information we want, and that his reply will only partially answer the needs and difficulties we are facing? Will he not go into detail as to whether this proposal might be possible in future?
§ Mr. CroslandI would not dissent from my hon. Friend's opening remark, but nevertheless the inquiry I have announced will certainly give us up-to-date information on a sample basis of how the trend of retail sales is going.
§ Mr. BarnettCan my right hon. Friend give us the most recent figures he has?
§ Mr. CroslandThe figures for April suggest that the consumer boom is over. They show that, as between March and April, there was a marked fall of sales and that, in April, retail sales as a whole were no higher than in the three months August to October, 1967.