§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the President of the Board of Trade what estimate he has made of the number of independent booksellers (i) in 1987 and (ii) at the current date; and what assessment he has made of the impact on the traditional book trade of the growth of new retail outlets. [38748]
§ Mr. BattleThere are no official statistics available for the number of independent booksellers in 1987 or currently. Data produced by the Office for National Statistics (reference SDA25) are available for certain years for booksellers (businesses whose main sales are new or second-hand books) as follows:
Year Businesses Outlets 1986 2,567 3,175 1988 2,271 3,096 1990 2,323 3,495 1991 2,016 3,280 1992 2,195 3,790 The intermediate surveys in 1987 and 1989 did not provide results by detailed kind of business. After 1992, the results have been published on the basis of the Standard Industrial Classification (92), which combines booksellers with newsagents. However, these results do not give an analysis by number of outlets so it is not possible to estimate the number of independent booksellers.
I am aware of several factors affecting book sales at present, including the growth of new outlets, but no assessment has been made of their possible impact on the traditional booktrade. My Department is currently supporting the Booksellers Association of Great Britain and Ireland (BA) in its efforts to create an Internet site for the benefit of small and medium booksellers. In another initiative, involving the Publishers Association and the Booksellers Association, the Department has supported a study into book industry supply-chain.