§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will convene 121W a meeting of the RPI Advisory Committee with a view to examining the possibility of removing cigarette prices from the index.
§ Mr. Prior[pursuant to his reply, 15 April 1980, c. 438]: The advice of the advisory committee on the coverage of the main retail prices index (RPI) is set out in the reply following. The first essential purpose of the RPI is to provide an overall measure of price changes of goods and services bought by households in general. For various purposes, however, it is necessary to look deeper than one overall figure and consider the detailed information already available which enables separate allowance to be made for the effects of individual price changes, for example of tobacco, if required for particular purposes. I have noted with great interest the views recently expressed but the arguments have not so far led me to seek to convene the advisory committee.