§ Mr. Bestasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing the price index for one-person and the price index for two-person pensioner households alongside the retail price index for every quarter in each of the last five years.
§ Mr. Jim Lester[pursuant to his reply, 15 February 1980, c. 773]: The information requested is published monthly in table 132(a) of the Employment Gazette, copies of which are in the Library of the House. The pensioner indices do not cover housing costs and should be compared with the general index excluding housing.
The retail prices index figures for the last quarter of 1979 taking January 1974 as 100 were:
One-person pensioner households 239.8 Two-person pensioner households 238.5 General index of retail prices excluding housing 239.8