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Sunday and Christmas Day Shopping

Sunday Shopping Review

In November 2005, Alan Johnson, then Secretary of State, asked DTI officials to review the pros and cons of relaxing the restrictions on Sunday shop opening hours. The Sunday Trading Act 1994, and hence the review, only applies to England and Wales.

From January to April 2006 we asked for views and evidence on this subject from consumers, religious groups, employees and businesses, not only on the economic case, but on all aspects of further relaxation of the current restrictions. A summary of the responses is available on the right.

During February 2006 we held a Small Business Service Focus group on the impact of relaxing the restrictions on Sunday shopping hours. A full report of this discussion can be found on the right.

In early 2006 the DTI appointed Indepen Consulting (an independent management and economic consultancy) to produce an economic cost-benefit analysis report on the impact of allowing large shops to open for longer. A full version of their report was published in May 2006 and can be found on the right.

As part of the consultation process, DTI organised a half-day conference in London on 10 May 2006 to discuss Indepen's analysis. To the right are:

• Indepen's main presentation on the cost benefit analysis
• Indepen's presentation on international comparisons
• a full report of the conference, including a summary of the discussions in the various forums

On 6 July 2006 Secretary of State Alistair Darling announced that the government had listened to the results of the informal consultation and having looked at the evidence on all aspects of the issue, concluded that there should be no change to the Sunday trading laws. Click here to see a copy of the full press notice and here to read the written statement made by the Secretary of State to Parliament.