§ Mr. Nottasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what are his estimates of the difference between outturn and the forecasts made in the previous financial year of the GDP deflator, the aggregate price index of public sector costs and prices on which the Relative Price Effect (RPE) is computed, and the principal component indices of the aggregate public sector price index for 1967–68 to 1975–76.
§ Mr. Joel BarnettThe allowances made for RPE in the Public Expenditure White Papers are not intended to be taken as forecasts for individual years, nor are they based on a comparison of forecasts of an aggregate price index of public sector costs and the GDP deflator. The procedures used in White Papers up to Cmnd 5519 are explained in the Handbook on Methodology. A further development incorporated in the last White Paper (Cmnd 5879) is there explained in a technical note.