§ Mr. David Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade what explicit Government requirements will be satisfied by the statistical inquiry into catering being carried out by the Business Statistics Office for 1977.
§ Mr. MeacherInformation is needed for estimates of consumers' expenditure, capital expenditure, stocks and output included in the national accounts. It will provide firm estimates as the bases for the published quarterly series of capital expenditure and catering turnover, together with Information on purchases by the catering trade from other industries which will be used in the construction of input-output tables. It will also provide information on the structure of the catering trade as shown by the number and turnover of different kinds of establishments, and on its size in the separate countries of England, Scotland and Wales.
§ Mr. David Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade what explicit outside-of-Government user requirements will be satisfied by the statistical inquiry into 340W catering being carried out by the Business Statistics Office for 1977; and which questions are included for which there is no explicit Government requirement.
§ Mr. MeacherIt will provide information about the structure of the catering trade to which parts of the trade attach importance. The breakdown of turnover by commodity groups is of interest to market researchers and to some catering trade users. The firm base provided by this inquiry for the quarterly series of catering turnover is also of importance to some catering trade users. The needs of the tourist boards for separate country information on catering turnover are met by the inquiry. No questions are included for which there is no explicit Government requirement.