§ 65. Mr. Turtonasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury how many members of the Social Survey Division of the Central Office of Information and how many part-time investigators are at present working on a survey on the cost of living; how many Ministry of Supply cars are being daily used for this purpose; and whether any payment is being made by the investigators to the housewives who answer questions on their cost of living.
§ Mr. JayThe Social Survey is not carrying out a survey on the cost of living; but, apart from inquiries which are made from time to time on consumer expenditure for the White Paper on National Income and Expenditure, experimental inquiries are being made into the possibility of collecting complete household34W budgets. The last completed inquiry involved the employment of one officer in the Central Office and of 70 part-time investigators for 12 days; the use of 18 cars for an average of three days per car in rural areas where public transport is not available; and, as an experiment, payment to housewives on a limited scale.