asked the Secretary of State for Employment what was the average number of hours worked by part-time shop workers in (a) retail food shops and (b) retail non-food shops in 1979 and 1984.

The available information on a broadly comparable basis in 1979 and 1984 relates to the average weekly hours of part-time female employees covered by pay-as-you-earn schemes and whose pay was not affected by absence in the survey week in April. Details for the main sectors of retail distribution are published in table 177 of the reports of the new earnings survey for 1979 and for 1984 respectively, copies of which are in the Library.