§ Mr. Shersbyasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will publish in the Official Report in tabular form the total household expenditure on food expressed as a percentage of total consumer expenditure for the years 1900, 1920, 1940, 1960, 1976, and 1977.
§ Mr. StrangThe available information is as follows:
Household expenditure on food as a percentage of total consumer expenditure at current market prices was:
1960 24.9 1976 19.1 1977 19.3 Notes.
1. Comparable figures for 1900, 1920 and 1940 are not available. But a similar analysis published in "The Measurement of Consumers' Expenditure and Behaviour in the United Kingdom" Q. R. F. Stone and D. A. Rowe, Cambridge) shows percentages of food consumption related to total consumer expenditure as 32.7 in 1900, 33.9 in 1920 and 31.0 in 1940. These figures are on a different basis, including in particular food consumed in hotels and restaurants, and this produces a possible 5 percentage point disparity from the official series quoted in the answer above.
2. The 1977 figure is for the first three quarters only, seasonally adjusted.