§ Mr. William Powellasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether any estimate has been made of the annual costs to local authorities of enforcing the Shops Act 1950; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HurdI regret that we have no information on the costs to local authorities of enforcing the Shops Act 1950. The number of convictions for illegal Sunday trading (743 in 1984) suggests that there is very little enforcement of the Sunday trading provisions. In order to achieve a reasonable level of enforcement, it is clear that considerable additional expenditure would be required by local authorities, and the costs would have to be met by the ratepayer.