§ Mr. Nottasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the prices of which month or months 1976 survey prices are equivalent; and by what factor one should multiply 1975 survey prices to revalue to 1976 survey prices.
§ Mr. Joel Barnett,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 29th July 1976],gave the following information:
As explained in paragraphs 66 and 67 of the "Public Expenditure White Papers: Handbook on Methodology" the precise date of survey prices varies somewhat from one category of expenditure to another. For central Government voted expenditure and local authority expenditure, 1976 survey prices generally relate to prices at November 1975, or a month or two earlier. For programmes which are estimated in cash terms, 1976 survey prices are normally equivalent to 1976–77 prices as seen at the time of the survey. Thus the revaluation factor to be used to move from 1975 to 1976 survey prices will vary according to the expenditure in question; average factors can be derived by dividing the figures shown in column 1 of Table A of my right hon. Friend the Chancellor's statement on 22nd July—[Vol. 915, c. 2033–36]—by the corresponding figures in Cmnd. 6393.