§ Mr. Andrew Bowdenasked the Secretary of State for Employment if, further to his answer to the hon. Member for Bury, North (Mr. Burt), Official Report, 6 June, column 171, he will be instructing the Retail Prices Index Advisory Committee, in its deliberations on the construction of the retail price index, to examine those items of expenditure more likely to be incurred by pensioners than by other households.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkThe terms of reference for the Retail Prices Index Advisory Committee are as already indicated in my right hon. Friend's reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Bury, North (Mr. Burt) on 6 June, at column171. The role of the committee is to advise my right hon. Friend on the method of construction and compilation of the index so that it continues to provide a reliable measure of the changes from month to month in the retail prices of goods and services. Such differences as exist between the expenditure patterns of pensioner households and that of the generality of households are already catered for by the construction of separate price indices for poor pensioner households following earlier recommendations of the committee.