HC Deb 19 May 1977 vol 932 c237W
Mr. Bulmer

asked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection what proportion of the average industrial wage is now spent on food.

Mr. John Fraser

The proportion of income the average industrial wage earner spends on food varies according to his circumstances, including any other forms of income he and other members of his household may have. Information on how households spend their income is given in the Family Expenditure Survey. The latest available data, which cover the year up to June 1976, show that households whose expenditure patterns form the basis of the General Index of Retail Prices spent on average, 25 per cent. on food—including 3.3 per cent on meals out—out of an average total weekly expenditure of £60.42. Full details of the Family Expenditure Survey for the year to June 1976 are given in Vol. 85, No. 3—March 1977—of the Department of EmploymentGazette.