§ Lord Granville of Eyeasked Her Majesty's Government:
What statistics are available to indicate the rise in transport costs for goods and services to the retail trades from 1974.
§ Lord TrefgarneFew statistics are available about retailers' transport costs because information is collected only periodically. Most recent information relates to 1978 from the 1978 Retailing Inquiry and to 1971 from the 1971 Census of Distribution. The only comparable information from these inquiries is given in the table below. For comparison retailing turnover is estimated to have increased by 163 per cent. between these two years:
£ million 1971 1978 Vehicle running costs 83 200 Amounts paid to other businesses for transport of goods, other than postal services 51 205 More detailed information can be obtained for 1971 from tables 50 and 51 in Business Monitor SD23 and for 1978 from table 15 in Business Monitor SDA25; copies of both these publications are available in the Library.