§ 47. Mr. Osborneasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in view of the fact that during the past two years the Interim Index of Industrial Production has increased from 129 to 146, he will say what change in production costs there has been in that period.
§ Mr. GaitskellThe trend of unit costs of production is determined by a number of factors including, besides the actual quantity of output recorded in the Interim Index of Industrial Production, the consumption and prices of raw materials, changes in wage rates and other factors affecting labour cost, and in numbers employed and hours worked. The available information on all these factors is not sufficient to enable me to make a reliable estimate of the change in production costs.