§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will publish in the Official Report the substance of the letter sent by the Financial Secretary to the hon. Member for Grimsby on 29 August in reply to four written questions concerning the published indices of labour cost competitiveness.
§ Mr. LawsonThe text of the letter was as follows:
"Just before the recess you put down four questions about the publication of indices of labour costs competitiveness. It was not possible to answer these in the time available, and I said that I would write to you (OR Written Answers 8 August, c. 421].
We had ourselves been considering what indices we should publish. We have decided that in future we shall publish both the IMF index of relative normal unit labour costs and the IMF index of relative unadjusted unit labour costs in Economic Trends and in the Monthly Review of External Trade Statistics. These indices are at present both published in the IMF's International Financial Statistics. We do not intend to publish the series for relative normal unit labour costs calculated in The treasury. The two IMF series provide an adequate range of views about relative unit labour costs and the effect of adjusting for variations in productivity growth about an assumed trend. The Treasury index 210W is calculated primarily for use in forecasting, and it may be amended or abandoned as new views about the correct way to model exports emerge.
Treasury officials have raised with the IMF staff the question of the assumption of trend productivity growth in the UK used in calculating the IMF's index of relative normal unit labour costs".