HC Deb 09 February 1954 vol 523 cc107-9W
91. Mr. McKay

asked the Minister of Labour how much higher the 1952 index of his Department has lifted the general index of 1947 during the two years of its operation, due to its changed weighting of goods and its wider survey of commodities, above the figure which would

— Approximate indices with prices in January, 1951, taken as 100
1951 1952 1953
Jan. June Dec. Jan. June Dec. Jan. June Dec.
Food … … … … 100 107 114 118 128 129 129 134 129
Rent and rates … … … … 100 103 103 104 106 107 107 112 114
Fuel and light … … … … 100 103 110 115 115 120 120 121 127
Miscellaneous goods … … … … 100 114 120 120 125 123 132 120 120
Fares … … … … 100 102 107 110 118 121 121 123 127
Entertainment … … … … 100 100 114 114 114 125 125 125 125
Laundry charges … … … … 100 103 107 107 110 113 113 114 118

98. Mr. G. Thomas

asked the Minister of Labour whether he will publish in the Official Report a list stating the commodities included on the food section of the cost-of-living index; and what increases or decreases in price have taken place since November, 1951, with regard to each separate item.

Sir W. Monckton

No. A list of the items for which prices are collected is already available in the publication "Interim Index of Retail Prices: Method have resulted from the sole application of the 1947 index, which had a different method of weights and was based on the 1937–38 survey of working-class consumption, during the past two years.

Sir W. Monckton

The changes in the method of computing the Retail Prices Index introduced early in 1952 were designed to improve the accuracy and reliability of the Index, and I could not undertake the task of calculating what the current Index figure would have been if a less accurate basis had been used.

97. Mr. Lewis

asked the Minister of Labour to state, using his cost-of-living index figures, the percentage rise or fall in the price of food, rents and rates, fuel and light, fares, entertainment, laundry, and miscellaneous goods at January, June and December, 1951, 1952 and 1953, taking January, 1951, as 100.

Sir W. Monckton

The information asked for is given in the following table but the figures must be regarded as approximations, since direct comparison with January, 1951, is not possible owing to the changes which were made in the basis of the index as from February, 1952.

of Construction and Calculation." This list consists of over 250 items, including about 90 food items. Indices with prices in November, 1951, represented by 100 are not available and I could not justify the work involved in computing such figures. Each month's issue of the Ministry of Labour Gazette gives information about any appreciable changes in prices during the month under review and each January issue includes a detailed review of price changes during the preceding year.

Mr. G. Thomas

asked the Minister of Labour whether he will establish a cost-of-living index based on the budget of an old-age pensioner as distinct from the present index based on the budgets of wage earners.

Sir W. Monckton

No. The Cost of Living Advisory Committee, in their Interim Report of 26th June, 1951, expressed the opinion that there would be serious objections to the regular publication at monthly intervals of two or more official indices of retail prices covering different social, economic or regional groups, and they recommended that only one official index should be published monthly, to relate to all wage earners and moderate salary earners.

Mr. Lewis

asked the Minister of Labour to state for a given date in January, June and December, for each of the years 1951, 1952 and 1953, the price of bacon, canned hams, imported mutton, rabbits, eggs, potatoes, cabbages, onions, cooking apples, condensed milk, eggs, bacon, cheese, meat, margarine, cooking fat, bread, tea, coffee, fish, sugar and flour, as used on those dates in computing his Index of Retail Prices.

Sir W. Monckton

As is stated in the published account of the method of calculating the index, average prices are not computed. The purpose of the index is to give a representative measure of price changes in percentage form and information in this form for different groups of commodities and for all items combined is regularly published in the Ministry of Labour Gazette.