§ Miss Quennellasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish the current formula, with items of consumption, used in calculating the Cost of Living (All-Items) Index.
§ Mr. Dudley SmithThe weights used in the calculation of the General Index of Retail Prices are revised annually in January on the basis of the information obtained from the Family Expenditure
Jurisdiction 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 To 25th September, 1970 Industrial Training Act 1964. England & Wales 397 923 491 514 201 248 Scotland … 103 123 38 45 22 22 Redundancy Payments Act 1965. England & Wales — 3,733 6,361 6,602 6,358 5,148 Scotland … — 431 862 798 727 538 Contracts of Employment Act 1965. England & Wales — 102 61 53 40 21 Scotland … — 22 22 10 3 3 Compensation Regulation (mainly made under schedule 7 to the Red Payments Act 1965). England & Wales — 11 16 7 13 10 Scotland … — — — — 2 1 Selective Employment Payments Act 1966. England & Wales — 10 593 512 316 212 Scotland … — 1 51 49 38 19 Docks and Harbours Act 1966 (section 51). England & Wales — — 1 1 6 4 Scotland … — — — — — — In a sample of cases taken earlier this year, 18 per cent. of applicants were represented by solicitors and 24 per cent. by trade union officials; 20.5 per cent. of respondents were represented by solicitors and 5.3 per cent. by officials of employers' associations.
§ Mr. Kinnockasked the Secretary of State for Employment what was the average length of time elapsing between initial applications for hearings to industrial tribunals and appearance by applicants before tribunals.
§ Mr. BryanA quarter of all applications are settled without a hearing. A
270WSurvey and are representative of nearly nine-tenths of all households in the United Kingdom, including wage earners and small and medium salary earners. The weights which are being used in 1970 were published on page 197 of the March issue of the Employment and Productivity Gazette, and the list of nearly 350 items taken into account in the compilation of the index is given in Appendix A in the booklet, published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, entitled "Method of Construction and Calculation of the Index of Retail Prices". I am sending copies of these documents to my hon. Friend.