§ Baroness Jegerasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many prosecutions have taken place, to the last convenient date, for offences in connection with Sunday trading and for contravention of the General Closing Hours provisions regarding late night opening.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Elton)The number of proceedings for offences against the Sunday trading laws is published annually in "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales"—offence classification number 179 of Table S1.1(A) ofSupplementary Tables, Vol. 1 of the latest issue for 1981. The number of defendants proceeded against for offences relating to the closing of shops is given in the following table; it is not possible to distinguish offences relating solely to late night opening.
DEFENDANTS PROCEEDED AGAINST FOR OFFENCES RELATED TO THE CLOSING OF SHOPS(1) England and Wales Year Number of defendants proceeded against 1976 98 1977 55 1978 63 1979 46 1980 34 1981 88 (1)Offences under Part I and Sections 41 and 42 of the Shops Act 1950 and under the Shops (Early Closing Days) Act 1965.