§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether he will make a detailed statement on his Department's survey published on Monday, 13th March, showing to what extent the 10 per cent. increase in the fourth quarter of 1971 spent on food as compared with the fourth quarter of 1970 was due to the rise in the price of food; and to what extent the average expenditure of 21½p per head was due to the same reasons.
§ Mr. PriorThe increase of 21½p, or 10 per cent., in the average weekly household expenditure on food recorded by the National Food Survey between the fourth quarters of 1970 and 1971 reflected a large number of variations in both prices and levels of consumption of many different items of food. The results338W of the survey showed that housewives had continued to shop selectively and in this way mitigate the effect of rising prices.