§ Mr. David Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection if he will publish a table showing the current number of civil servants and the current annual cost to public expenditure of administering (a) the Price Code, and (b) the Consumer Credit Act; and whether he will estimate the cost to industry and commerce of seeking to comply with these Acts and the regulations made under them.
§ Mr. Maclennan(a) The Price Code is administered by the Price Commission. I understand that its staff time and costs cannot readily be apportioned between the administration of the Price Code and the Commission's other functions. At the beginning of March 1977 the Commission had in total a staff of 660 and its grant for the financial year 1976–77 is £4.851 million.
372W(b) At the beginning of March 1977 120 staff were employed in the Office of Fair Trading in administering the Consumer Credit Act. The cost for the financial year 1976–77 is estimated to be £1.2 million; the Director General of Fair Trading is required to cover the normal expenses of his functions under the Act from the licence fees that he charges. In addition, local authorities will incur some expenditure in enforcing the Act. It is not possible to estimate the cost to industry and commerce of compliance.