§ Sir B. Rhys Williamsasked the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity if he will publish tables illustrating the changes in the cost of living in the first half of 1970 and showing their effect in terms of shillings per week for families consisting of a single person, a married couple with two children and a married couple with four children, respectively.
§ Mr. BryanThe General Index of Retail Prices measures the change in the average level of prices of the goods and services purchased by the great majority of households in the United Kingdom, including practically all wage earners and most small and medium salary earners. The average weekly expenditure of these households in the year ended June, 1969, was about £26.
The General Index of Retail Prices rose by 4.1 per cent. between 16th December, 1969, and 16th June, 1970, which is 95W equivalent to a rise of about 21 shillings a week on an expenditure of £26 a week. I regret that corresponding figures for different sizes of family are not available.