§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, further to his reply of 8 February, Official Report, column 596, concerning input and output prices as shown in the producer price index, whether he will provide an estimate of the relationship at the present time assuming that the rise in input prices was passed on exactly and all other factors remained unchanged.
§ Mr. ButcherThe value of goods and materials purchased by manufacturing industry, which are largely covered by the input price index, was around a third of the 5W value of the total output of manufacturing industry in 1979. This mechanical calculation based on the latest input-output tables available indicates the order of magnitude of the ultimate relationship on the assumptions stated.