§ Mr. Cadburyasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing, for a married man with two children earning average male earnings in the relevant year, and after taking into account tax liability and national insurance contributions, the length of time he would have to work in order to pay for the following items in each year since 1964 to the latest year for which information is available (a) a 1 ¾1b. unwrapped, unsliced loaf, (b) one pint of milk, (c) six standard eggs, (d) 5 cwt high quality coal, (e) one lb rump steak and (f) a man's two-piece woollen suit.
§ Mr. Biffen[pursuant to the reply, 6 June 1980, Col. 854]: The information requested, in minutes, based on average retail prices at mid-October each year is as follows : 487W
488W
1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1¾lb unwrapped unsliced loaf* 9.9 9.8 9.8 10.3 10.7 10.6 10.3 9.8 9.3 9.4 10.1 9.4 10.4 11.3 11.3 10.6 1 pt of milk 6.4 6.3 6.0 6.1 6.1 6.0 5.8 5.7 5.0 4.5 3.2 4.0 4.8 5.3 4.9 4.9 6 standard eggs† 11.5 17.1 14.0 13.2 12.5 12.5 10.8 9.9 8.7 17.4 13.3 10.6 11.8 11.1 8.3 9.3 5 cwt high quality coal‡ 449.3 416.6 439.7 466.1 504.8 479.9 480.3 476.7 452.6 424.0 375.3 459.7 504.4 569.4 541.7 538.4 1 lb of home-killed first quality Sirloin (without bone)‡ 57.8 56.8 52.8 50.1 53.7 56.4 53.9 55.2 56.8 64.8 55.7 55.1 68.2 65.5 67.8 67.6 Man's two-piece woollen suit Not available Notes * 1964–67 defined as ' white wheat bread ' † 1964–77 defined as ' weight less than 2.3/16 oz but not less than 1.7/8 oz.' 1978 definition is ' weight less than 65–70 g. but not less than 55–60g.' 1979 definition is ' size 4 (55–60 g) ' ‡ rump steak prices not readily available