§ Mr. Onslowasked the Secretary of State for Industry how many prosecutions have been brought in each of the past five years for failure to comply with Section 1 of the Statistics of Trade Act 1947; and how many convictions have resulted.
§ Mr. Les Huckfield:All Section I prosecutions, which are initiated only after all other means of persuasion have been exhausted, over the last five years have been associated with non-response to the quarterly inquiries into manufacturers' sales conducted by the Business Statistics Office. Following the introduction of these inquiries in 1968, prosecutions were not instituted until mid-1973. The number of prosecutions from 1973 to date, all of which resulted in convictions, are as follows:
… … First Prosecutions Second Prosecutions* 1973 … … 36 — 1974 … … 53 2 1975 … … 67 2 1976 … … 32 8 1977 … … 44 5 * For continued failure to comply after conviction.