HC Deb 25 October 1920 vol 133 cc1309-10
9. Sir N. MOORE

asked the President of the Board of Trade if, in view of the fact that the accuracy of the figures submitted by the Government in regard to the cost of living have not been accepted by a large section of the miners, the Government will appoint an independent Committee of the House to verify their accuracy or otherwise?

The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the MINISTRY of LABOUR (Sir Montague Barlow)

I have been asked to reply. I am sending my hon. and gallant Friend an extract from the "Labour Gazette" for March last, which explains in detail the methods employed in compiling the statistics relating to cost of living which are prepared each month in the Ministry of Labour. I am aware that it has been asserted, on the one hand, that the actual increase is greater, and, on the other hand, that it is less, than the published percentage, but the evidence adduced has, I am advised, been fragmentary, and no independent statistics have been compiled of a sufficiently comprehensive character to provide a justification for disputing the official calculations. As regards the suggestion that an independent Committee should be appointed to verify the accuracy of the statistics, my hon. and gallant Friend will no doubt be aware that these statistics were the subject of an investigation in 1918 by Lord Sumner's Committee on the Cost of Living, who reported that there was every reason to suppose that they were accurate and adequate for their purpose.

Sir N. MOORE

That was 1918. It is two years later now.

Mr. W. THORNE

Can the hon. Gentleman explain how you get the information upon which the Board of Trade figures of the cost of living are based?

Sir M. BARLOW

The figures are got together by a process of examination of a large number of details and a large amount of data from various sources. If the hon. Member likes I will furnish him with such published information as there is bearing an the method by which the figures are arrived at.

Mr. THORNE

Does the hon. Member ever consult the wives of the working men as to the cost of living?