§ Mr. Michael Spicerasked the Secretary of State for Trade when he plans to publish all the volumes of the census of distribution for which inquiries were completed in 1972.
§ Mr. Meacher12 of the 13 parts of the printed report have now been published. Part 1 covered the shop and other outlet tables for Great Britain as a whole. Parts 2 to 12 contained tables about Scotland, Wales, the standard regions of England and area summary tables. Part 13, giving tables about retail organisations and the service trades, is expected to be published in October of this year. Summary figures will be released in an article inTrade and Industry within the next two months. Much of the delay has been 332W due to the time spent in following up outstanding returns; even now it has been necessary to make estimates for the 22 per cent. of retailers enumerated—reckoned to account for 12 per cent. of total turnover—who failed to make good returns.