§ Mr. Richard Wainwrightasked the Secretary of State for Trade what is the purpose of the Statistical Inquiry into Catering for 1977 which is now being carried out by the Business Statistics Office.
§ Mr. Meacher,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 8th March 1977; Vol. 927], gave the following information:
The purpose of the 1977 catering inquiry to be held in 1978 is to provide statistics needed by both Government and outside users. In particular the Government need information on stocks, capital expenditure and turnover by commodity for use in compiling the national accounts and monitoring developments in the economy. Outside users are interested, for example, in turnover by commodity and in a detailed breakdown of catering turnover according to the kind of business—hotels, restaurants, etc. There is no question, and no part of any question, which is not directly related to explicit Government or outside user requirements.