§ Mr. LeightonTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment how his Department monitors movements in382W the prices and costs of particular goods and services purchased; and how such movements in prices and costs have differed from the gross domestic product deflator.
§ Mr. CopeThe Department began to introduce a computerised management information system designed to record all purchases at the beginning of 1988. This database makes possible more detailed comparative analysis of spending patterns, but so far insufficient data has been collected to compare the change in the cost and prices of goods and services purchased by this Department with the gross domestic product deflator.