§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if pensioner households are excluded from the construction of the general index of retail prices.
§ Mr. Waddington[pursuant to his reply, 25 February 1981, c. 381]: About half of all pensioner households are included in the coverage of the retail prices index and half excluded. The latter are the low-income pensioner households in which at least three quarters of the total income is derived from national insurance retirement or similar pensions or supplementary pensions or allowances. The exclusion of low-income pensioner households follows recommendations of the retail prices index advisory committee.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Employment what proportion of household expenditure by one-and two-person pensioner households is spent on (a) housing (b) fuel, light and power and (c) food—excluding meals bought away from home; what has been the latest annual increase in prices of these categories of expenditure; and if he will show comparisons for all households of these figures.
§ Mr. Waddington[pursuant to his reply, 25 February 1981, c. 381.] The 1979 family expenditure survey shows the following proportions of total household expenditure:
Percentages of total expenditure Pensioner 1 person households 2 person All households Housing✶ 24.7 15.4 14.6 Fuel, light and power 13.8 10.9 5.6 Food (excluding meals out) 29.9 32.9 19.4 ✶ Comprising rent and rates (net of rebates), imputed rent of owner-occupied housing and those living rent free, water and sewage charges and expenditure on repairs, maintenance and decorating. Between the fourth quarter of 1979 and fourth quarter of 1980 the percentage increases in prices from the available indices were; 76W
General Index of Retail Prices Indices for pensioner Households 1 person 2 persons Housing 29.4 ✶ ✶ Fuel, light and power 27.4 26.9 27.0 Food (excluding meals out) 9.9 10.0 9.5 ✶ Not computed.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Employment why housing is excluded from the two special indices of retail prices used for one and two-person pensioner households.
§ Mr. Waddington[pursuant to his reply, 25 February 1981, c. 381]: The retail prices index advisory committee recommended that housing should be excluded from the calculation of the indices of retail prices for pensioner households because of the difficulty of measuring changes in housing costs for special categories of households.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if, in order to ensure a more effective uprating of national insurance supplementary and other social security benefits, he will introduce a low-income family retail price index to reflect the special expenditure patterns of such families.
§ Mr. Waddington[pursuant to his reply, 25 February 1981, c. 381]: No. Studies carried out and published by my Department—see March 1979 and May 1980 issues of Employment Gazette—have shown that the retail prices index is a good indicator of the price increases faced by the different types of household to which the index relates; this includes low-income families and the majority of recipients of social security benefits.
§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Employment how many members of one or two-person pensioner households are members of the retail prices index advisory committee; what proportion of members of the committee this represents; and how this compares with the proportion of male and female pensioners in the population as a whole.
§ Mr. Waddington[pursuant to his reply, 25 February 1981, c. 381]: Information on the personal circumstances of members of the advisory committee is not available.