HC Deb 10 December 1953 vol 521 cc260-1W
43. Mr. Lee

asked the Minister of Labour whether the Technical Committee has examined the effect on the retail index of the removal of food subsidies from a number of items.

Sir W. Monckton

No. I am not aware of any reasons for asking the Technical Committee to make such an examination.

44. Mr. Lee

asked the Minister of Labour when he expects to receive the report on the family budget in connection with a new retail index.

Sir W. Monckton

The household expenditure inquiry is being conducted over a period of 12 months and the work of interviewing householders and collecting budgets will not finish until February or March of next year. Thereafter some considerable time must elapse before the large mass of detail collected can be summarised, and I regret that I am unable to give a date by which a report on the inquiry will become available.