§ 6. Mr. Priorasked the Minister of Labour whether he will publish the prices of items of food used in the compilation of the monthly cost-of-living index.
§ Mr. HareNo, Sir. The method of calculation of the Index of Retail Prices does not involve the calculation of average prices. I could not justify the very considerable amount of extra staff time involved in calculating average prices of 386 individual items of food involving as it would the calculation of averages of nearly 1,000 prices for each of nearly 100 items of food each month.
§ Mr. PriorIs my right hon. Friend aware that the same sources of food prices quoted by his Department would be of great value to economists and statisticians doing research work? For example, bodies like the Pig Industry Development Authority would need to find out the prices of meat in various parts of the country in order to assess the economics of marketing. Is it possible to give same help to these people?
§ Mr. HareNaturally I will consider any suggestion my hon. Friend cares to put, but the main basis of my Answer still holds good.