§ Mr. Parkinsonasked the Secretary of State for Employment what European countries operate an index-linked wage system; and to what extent this has affected inflation in those countries, from information available from international sources.
§ Mr. Chichester-ClarkA report by an OECD working party last year showed that arrangements which link wages to the movement in prices are used extensively in Belgium, Denmark, Ita1y, the Netherlands, and Norway. The working party considered that it was difficult to draw conclusions about how index-linkage affects inflation since much depends on the prevailing circumstances, the effect of index-linkage on the whet elements of the wage bargain and the overall policies being pursued.