§ Mr. Hal Millerasked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection how many prosecutions there were in 1974 and 1975 for non-compliance with the Price Code.
§ Mr. MaclennanNone, since noncompliance with the Price Code is not a criminal offence. The Counter-Inflation Act confers certain powers on the Price Commission to ensure that the provisions of the code are implemented.
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§ Mr. Hal Millerasked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection what consideration she has given to raising the figures for total sales according to which firms are categorised under the Price Code in line with the increase in inflation since the code was introduced on 1st November 1973.
§ Mr. MaclennanMy right hon. Friend is considering this.
§ Mr. Hal Millerasked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection how many firms in the various trading sectors came into each of the different categories established under the Price Code at its inception in November 1973, and subsequently in November 1974 and November 1975.
§ Mr. MaclennanThe information is as follows:
November 1973 November 1974 November 1975 Category I Manufacture … 100 126 135 Service … 46 44 44 Total 146 170 179 Category II Manufacture … 577 658 810 Service … 201 294 422 Distribution … 259 307 354 Total … 1,037 1,259 1,586 These entries treat two or more different persons as a single person in the circumstances described in paragraph 2 of Schedule 3 to the Counter-Inflation Act 1973.
Enterprises in Category III were not required to register before 1975. At November 1975 some 2,600 manufacturers, 4,000 suppliers of services and 10,000 distributors had been recorded.
§ Mr. Hal Millerasked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection what was the cost in 1975 of operating the Price Code (a) to the Price Commission and (b) to prenotifying and reporting firms.
§ Mr. MaclennanSeparate figures for the Price Commission's costs of operating the Price Code are not available, but a total of £3.694 million has been provided for all the Commission's work in 1975–76. I have no information about the cost to firms.