§ Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the commodities which may legally be sold in shops after closing time.
§ Mr. CarlisleThe trades and businesses listed in Schedule 2 to the Shops Act, 1950, are exempt from the general closing hours laid down in Section 2 of the Act. Subject to local authority requirements, confectioners and tobacconists may open to a limited extent beyond these hours, and local authorities may exempt shops at holiday resorts for limited periods of the year.
§ Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department in how many cases, during the last convenient 12-month period, there have have been prosecutions of shopkeepers in respect of shop hours offences.
§ Mr. CarlisleNone in 1969 in England and Wales.
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§ Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many inspectors are employed in Great Britain under the Shops Act, 1950; and at what total cost to public funds.
§ Mr. CarlisleEnforcement of the Shops Act is an incidental part of the duties of some 5,000 local authority officials in Great Britain. No estimate of the cost of enforcement is available.
§ Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has of the degree of lawbreaking in respect of the Shops Act, 1950.
§ Mr. CarlisleIn England and Wales in 1969 there were 94 convictions for offences under the Shops Acts, other than those relating to Sunday trading.
§ Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate is available of the number or percentage of shops which shut earlier than they are legally allowed to do.
§ Mr. CarlisleThe great majority do so, but no precise estimate is available.