§ 57. Mr. Goodhewasked the President of the Board of Trade what steps he has been taking to estimate the growth of consumer expenditure; and what are his estimates of the amount by which expenditure in the fortnight ended 3rd February, 1968, exceeded expenditure in the comparable period of 1967 on hardware, radio and electrical goods in department stores, on furniture and furnishings, and on consumer durable goods as a whole.
§ Mrs. Gwyneth DunwoodyTo supplement the monthly statistics of retail trade we have obtained the co-operation of a large number of department stores in providing, for a limited period, weekly figures of their sales. In the fortnight ended 3rd February, 1968, the hardware, radio and electrical departments and the furniture and furnishings departments of these stores increased their sales by about one-half and one-third, respectively, as compared with the corresponding period of 1967. Sales of durable goods in all shops in January—the latest period for which information is available—were about 17 per cent. higher than in January, 1967, when expenditure was relatively depressed.