§ Mr. Hannamasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list in ascending order the percentage increases 529W in consumer prices and total prices in each member state of the European Community, the United States of America, Canada and Japan, respectively, in the periods (a) between March 1974 and the end of the first quarter of 1979, (b) from the beginning of the second quarter of 1979 to the end of the fourth quarter of 1980 and (c) from the beginning of the first quarter of 1981 to the latest date for which figures are available.
§ Mr. Bruce-GardyneThe following table gives the figures on consumer prices as requested. GDP deflators, which have been taken as a measure of total prices, are available annually only for many of these countries and the latest annual data is for 1981. The second table therefore gives the percentage change in GDP deflators for 1974–79 and 1979–81. As a result tables do not reflect the United Kingdom's recent performance. Over the last year consumer price inflation in the United Kingdom has fallen more than in any other country and the United Kingdom has now joined the three major countries—United State, Germany and Japan—with inflation below 5 per cent.
Consumer Price Inflation* (percentage increase) (a) (b) (c) March 1974-March 1979 April 1979-December 1980 January 1981-December 1982 Germany 22.9 (1) 8.5 (1) 10.3 (2) Netherlands 40.8 (2) 9.7 (2) 11.0 (3) Luxembourg 41.5 (3) 11.5 (3) 18.4 (7) United States of America 46.1 (4) 22.2 (8) 12.3 (4) Japan 46.5 (5) 11.5 (3) 5.1 (1) Belgium 48.6 (6) 11.7 (5) 15.9 (5) Canada 54.8 (7) 17.8 (6) 21.0 (8) Denmark 60.3 (8) 21.8 (7) 21.6 (9) France 63.0 (9) 22.7 (9) 23.6 (10) Greece 88.7 (10) 43.9 (13) 42.4 (13) Ireland† 101.2 (11) 27.5 (10) 30.4 (11) United Kingdom 105.3 (12) 28.7 (11) 17.4 (6) Italy 112.9 (13) 36.1 (12) 35.0 (12) * Figures in brackets are rankings. † As Ireland do not publish monthly figures the following period has
Prices indices for: (i) (ii) (iii) April 1979 January 1982 January 1983 (except where shown) (March 1974=100) (May 1979=100) (May 1979=100) *Electricity 268.3 159.0 182.6 *Gas 169.6 173.8 213.9 *Coal 252.2 171.0 181.7 Postage (second class) 200.0 164.3 178.6 Telephone (3 minutes local call in morning, dialled direct) 589.1 152.6 152.6 *Rail fares‡ 271.8 142.1 182.5 *Bus fares‡ 247.7 143.7 177.4 *Motoring costs 213.5 142.8 150.1 Steel (factory-gate output price) 250.0 120.5 †123.7 Retail Price Index (RPI) 280.8 143.9 150.9 * Component of RPI † December 1982 ‡ Including London Transport Data for the retail prices index and for the RPI components are published in the Employment Gazette, table 6.2. The price of a telephone call is taken from "Statistics 1982", published by British Telecom. The price
530Wbeen used:
(a) 1974 Q1–1979 Q1 (b) 1979 Q2–1980 Q4 and (c) 1981 Q1–1982 Q4.
GDP Deflators (Percentage increase) 1974–1979 1979–1981 Germany 23.2 (1) 8.6 (2) Luxembourg 26.3 (2) 16.3 (5) Japan 30.1 (3) 5.8 (1) Belgium 40.4 (4) 9.7 (3) Netherlands 41.2 (5) 11.2 (4) United States of America 42.7 (6) 19.6 (6) Canada 52.7 (7) 22.3 (8) Denmark 57.4 (8) 20.5 (7) France 63.8 (9) 25.3 (9) Greece 96.3 (10) 41.1 (12) Ireland 106.8 (11) 34.0 (11) United Kingdom 112.1(12) 33.6 (10) Italy 117.9(13) 42.0 (13) * Figures in brackets are rankings.
§ Mr. Parrisasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give the price index figures for the following items: electricity, gas, domestic coal, postage — second class letter—telephone—private subscriber, local call—rail fares, finished steel, bus fares and motoring costs compared with the retail prices index for the following periods: (a) March 1974 to April 1979 using March 1974 as a base of 100, (b) May 1979 to latest date available using May 1979 as a base of 100 and (c) January 1982 to latest date available using May 1979 as base of 100.
§ Mr. Bruce-GardyneThe information requested on price indices is shown in the following table. The changes between January 1982 and the latest available date are reflected in the differences between columns (ii) and (iii).
of a second-class letter can be found in "Postal Rates: Inland Compendium"—successive issues. The factory gate domestic price of steel is as published in British Business.