§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing (a) for each year from 1948 to 1978 and for each quarter from the beginning of 1976 the five indices of competitiveness used by his Department plus the United Kingdom share of extra-EEC trade in manufactures based on trade in, respectively, 1961, 1970 and 1975 and (b) for each of these three series the rank and degree of correlation between each of the five measures of competitiveness and the share of extra-EEC trade, assuming a lag of six months and 12 months between changes in price and changes in volume;
(2) if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing (a) for each year from 1948 to 1978 and for each quarter from the beginning of 1976 the five indices of competitiveness used by his Department plus the United Kingdom terms of trade and relative volume for manufactures based on trade in, respectively, 1961, 1970 and 1975 and (b) for each of these three series the rank and degree of correlation between each of the six measures of competitiveness and the relative volume, assuming a lag of six months and 12 months between changes in prices and changes in volume.
§ Sir Geoffrey Howeasked The information which is readily available is set out in the table below. The definitions of the measures of competitiveness are given in Economic Trends and in the Monthly Review of External Trade Statistics—MRETS—where the most recent figures are published regularly. Information on the United Kingdom's share of trade in various markets is published in the MRETS. I regret that the remaining parts of these questions could only be answered at disproportionate cost.
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Index numbers 1975 = 100 Relative export prices Import price competitiveness Relative wholesale prices Relative normal unit labour costs Relative profitability of exporting Terms of trade in manufactures Relative volume of trade in manufactures (OTS basis) 1954 … … … … … — — — — — 89 261 1955 … … … … … 98.5 — — — 96.3 83 225 1956 … … … … … 99.5 — — — 95.1 85 237 1957 … … … … … 99.6 — — — 94.4 94 231 1958 … … … … … 102.2 — — — 94.3 100 218 1959 … … … … … 103.2 — — — 93.5 97 199 1960 … … … … … 103.1 — — — 93.9 96 156 1961 … … … … … 103.1 — — — 92.2 98 165 1962 … … … … … 105.2 — — — 92.5 101 162 1963 … … … … … 106.3 — — — 93.9 102 161 1964 … … … … … 106.3 — — — 93.5 101 137 1965 … … … … … 108.8 — — — 94.3 101 144 1966 … … … … … 111.1 — — — 95.6 102 141 1967 … … … … … 110.0 — — — 96.7 103 122 1968 … … … … … 103.5 — — — 100.9 98 119 1969 … … … … … 102.8 — — — 100.8 97 127 1970 … … … … … 103.9 — — 102.7 100.2 99 120 1971 … … … … … 106.2 — — 105.9 95.9 103 119 1972 … … … … … 106.2 — — 104.5 95.5 105 103 1973 … … … … … 97.5 95.9 95.7 92.4 98.2 96 97 1974 … … … … … 96.0 100.5 95.6 96.4 98.6 93 97 1975 … … … … … 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100 100 1976 … … … … … 97.6 93.7 93.8 92.6 103.6 99 100
Index numbers 1975 = 100 Relative export prices Import price competitiveness Relative wholesale prices Relative normal unit labour costs Relative profitability of exporting Terms of trade in manufactures Relative volume of trade in manufactures (OTS basis) 1977 103.0 96.4 99.8 88.8 103.6 101 98 1978 — 97.4 — 95.4 103.9 103 88 1976— First quarter 102.0 97.3 100.6 100.7 100.9 101 104 Second quarter 96.4 94.1 93.2 93.1 102.5 98 98 Third quarter 97.9 92.8 92.7 91.7 104.4 98 99 Fourth quarter 94.2 90.5 88.6 84.7 106.2 97 98 1977— First quarter 98.8 94.4 96.1 88.2 103.7 99 99 Second quarter 102.2 96.9 98.8 87.3 103.4 100 93 Third quarter 103.6 96.8 100.8 88.2 103.6 102 103 Fourth quarter 107.2 97.4 103.5 91.6 103.5 103 97 1978— First quarter 110.5 98.9 107.0 95.8 102.9 104 91 Second quarter 104.2 96.9 100.8 93.1 103.3 103 84 Third quarter 107.4 96.9 102.2 95.8 104.2 103 89 Fourth quarter — 96.9 — 96.8 105.2 103 88 1979— First quarter — 98.6 — 98.7 104.9 104 77 Second quarter — 107.1 — — 101.7 107 80 Note: The information used in compiling these estimates has been linked as necessary. The quality of the estimates for earlier years is lower than that for the ater years.