§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Prime Minister whether, pursuant to her statement. Official Report. 5 February, c. 415, concerning the experience of successive Parliaments, she will publish in the Official Report a table showing for the period since 1945 the percentage increase during each Parliament, in terms of the annual average, of (a) retail prices, (b) unemployment, (c) employment, (d) the money supply and (e) gross domestic product.
§ The Prime MinisterI refer the hon. Member to Economic Trends: Annual Supplement 1981. This covers all the relevant information available with the exception of retail prices 1945–47 which can be found in British Labour Statistics (Department of Employment, 1971). Employment and unemployment statistics prior to 1950 are not available on a consistent basis. Money supply statistics have been collected on a consistent basis only since 1963.
§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Prime Minister if she will publish in the Official Report a table showing the annual increase in productivity assumed by the International Monetary Fund in calculating normal unit labour costs in the United Kingdom, the actual increase in productivity in United Kingdom manufacturing since May 1979 and how this compares with the increase in the 21 months ended in the third quarter of 1973.
§ The Prime MinisterThe IMF index of United Kingdom relative normalised unit labour costs in manufactures is based on a rate of trend productivity growth for United Kingdom manufacturing of around l¾ per cent. per annum. Quarterly seasonally adjusted output 339W per person employed from 1962 to second quarter 1980 is published in Economic Trends Annual Supplement. 1981 edition, a copy of which is in the House of Commons Library. Data up to the third quarter 1980, the latest date for which full quarter estimates are available are contained in Economic Trends, January 1981. The latter also contains recent revisions to the quarterly series.