§ Mr. Ovendenasked the Secretary of State for Employment what annual rate of inflation is represented by the month- 604W to-month increases in the retail price index in each of the last six months and what annual rates are represented by the three monthly increases over the period.
§ Mr. GoldingThe information is given in the following table:
PERCENTAGE INCREASES IN THE RETAIL PRICES INDEX EXPRESSED AS ANNUAL RATES Change over 1 month Change over 3 months 1978— May 7.6 11.1 June 10.4 11.7 July 4.8 8.0 August 8.9 7.8 September 5.3 6.2 October 4.8 6.2 Changes over short periods of this kind are liable to be volatile and susceptible to seasonal influences and may not be reliable indicators of the underlying trends.