§ Mr. David Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade how many retailers received the "Inquiry into Retail Trading for 1976"; and how many did not complete it.
§ Mr. MeacherInformation is not available in the precise form requested. 30,424 forms have been sent out. By 11th November, 22,485 had been returned and forms are still being received.
§ Mr. David Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade (1) what was the cost of the "Inquiry into Retail Trading for 1976"; and how many staff were employed on the inquiry by the Business Statistics Office;
(2) how many staff will be employed in dealing with the "Inquiry into Retail Trading for 1977" at the Business Statistics Office;
(3) what is the estimated cost of the "Inquiry into Retail Trading for 1977".
§ Mr. MeacherThe revised estimate of the cost of the 1976 retail trade inquiry is £470,000 at current costs. On the same738W basis that for 1977 is expected to be around £400,000.
Many of the staff working on these inquiries will not be employed exclusively on them. For the 1976 inquiry it is estimated that the collection and analysis of the data will require about 25 staff for a two-year period, excluding the time of operational staff involved in processing the results. The corresponding requirement for the 1977 inquiry will be for between 20 and 25 staff, again for a two-year period.
§ Mr. David Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade how many retailers will receive the "Inquiry into Retail Trading for 1977"; and what this figure is as a proportion of the total number of retailers.
§ Mr. MeacherAbout 25,000; that is about one in 12 of all retailers.
§ Mr. David Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade for what purposes retailers will be required to give VAT details when answering the "Inquiry into Retail Trading for 1977".
§ Mr. MeacherIf the hon. Member has in mind the proposed question on VAT on retail sales, this information is needed for the calculation of gross margins exclusive of VAT and for the estimation of value added by the retail trade.
§ Mr. David Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade what action his Department takes against retailers who refuse to complete an inquiry into retail trading.
§ Mr. MeacherEvery effort is made by my officials at the Business Statistics Office to assist retailers who have any difficulties with the completion of their form. However, businesses which persistently refuse to co-operate are liable to prosecution under Section 4 of the Statistics of Trade Act 1947.
§ Mr. David Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade what information is gained by the Business Statistics Office from an inquiry into retail trading that is not already available to his Department from other sources.
§ Mr. MeacherThe annual retailing inquiries are in general required to provide 739W information on turnover, stocks and capital expenditure of businesses having some or all of their activities in retailing. For their retailing activities only, information is obtained on turnover by country, stocks and the asset breakdown of their capital expenditure; on the relationship of persons employed to turnover, by kinds of business; and on a detailed breakdown of retail sales by commodity. This information is required for use in compiling the national accounts and for monitoring developments in the economy, and also for studying the structure of the retail industry. Such information cannot be obtained other than by means of these direct inquiries.
§ Mr. David Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade what estimate his Department has made of the average cost to retailers of completing the "Inquiry into Retail Trading for 1977".
§ Mr. MeacherSuch estimates could not be made without disproportionate effort. The time taken and costs involved by a business in completing its return depends upon the type of form received and how readily the business has the information available.
§ Mr. David Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade why, in the proposed retail inquiry for 1977, it is necessary for a grocer to calculate the retail receipts separately from any wholesale receipts; and why it is necessary for grocers to separate calculations of the sales of groceries and provisions from other food including chocolate.
§ Mr. MeacherBusinesses are asked for an analysis of total turnover by activity in order to classify the nature of any activities other than retailing covered in their return. The analysis of sales by commodity is to adjust retail sales to constant prices, which is important for the monthly retail sales index.
§ Mr. David Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade what purpose is served by requiring retailers responding to the proposed retail inquiry for 1977 to keep separate records of sales receipts for alcoholic drinks.
§ Mr. MeacherRetailers are asked to provide separate details of sales of alcoholic drink within their total sales so that740W retail sales can be adjusted to constant prices. They are also needed to estimate the pattern of such sales for input-output purposes.