§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what information he has on the consumption pattern of individuals and families who are receiving unemployment benefit or are unemployed and receiving public assistance; and whether he will publish in the Official Report tables showing how (a) their pattern of food consumption compares with that of the food survey and (b) how the pattern of total expenditure compares with the pattern of the retail price index, giving this information for single persons, married persons and families of one, two and three children.
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§ Mr. Jim LesterI have been asked to reply.
Consumption patterns of the households requested are not available. However, an indication of how the expenditure patterns of lower income households differ to some degree from the average can be obtained from the tables published in the family expenditure survey 1978 report and in the article "The impact of rising prices on different types of household" in the May 1980 issue of Employment Gazette.