§ Mr. Heddleasked the Secretary of State for Trade whether he considers the inquiries currently being made into the distributive and service trades by his Department under section 1 of the Statistics of Trade Act 1947 are relevant 772W and necessary; and what is the cost of such inquiries.
§ Mr. EyreThese annual inquiries have been carried out for the past 20 years and have been considered relevant and necessary. However, I shall be reviewing them to ensure that the burden of form-filling on industry and trade is reduced to the minimum and to eliminate waste. The estimated total cost of these inquiries, including costs borne by other Departments, was about £1 million in 1978–79.