§ Mr. Sainsburyasked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will publish a price index for pensioner households, excluding tobacco and motoring costs.
§ Mr. WaddingtonNo. The retail prices index numbers for pensioner households follow the same general principle 23W as that followed for the main retail prices index and aim to cover the whole field of goods and services purchased by households, and not just "essentials" or basic requirements needed to live. The pensioner indices exclude housing costs but this is because of the difficulties of obtaining adequate data. The procedures follow the recommendations of the retail prices index advisory committee which includes representatives of the TUC, the CBI and trade and consumer organisations together with leading academic experts and Government statisticians.
The pensioner indices reflect the expenditure patterns of pensioners and in particular the fact that they spend less on tobacco and motoring costs than the general run of households.