§ Mr. Gouldasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what year the trade weights used in calculating the Index of Competitiveness are based.
§ Mr. MeacherI have been asked to reply.
The index of export competitiveness, which is defined, for the published statistics, as the ratio of United Kingdom export prices of manufactures to a weighted average of those of our major competitors, both expressed in terms of United States dollars, is compiled as a chain-linked Laspeyre index. The weights used for combining individual competitors' prices in a given year are based on levels of trade in manufactures in the previous year. The latest statistics for 1976 use weights based on trade in 1975 and are given in Table 13, page 656 of the 11th March issue of Trade and Industry.