Retail Prices Index

HC Deb 27 April 1994 vol 242 c164W

Sir Terence Higgins

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the individual components of the retail prices index; what are the prices for each item in the latest monthly survey; and what were the corresponding figures(a) 12 months and (b) 24 months earlier.

Sir John Cope

A list of the price indicators used for the retail prices index was published in the April 1993 Retail Prices Index Business Monitor MM23. A new list will be published shortly.

The purpose of the RPI is to measure price change rather than price levels. For many of the items, which are heterogeneous, the data are not suitable for the calculation of average prices.

Those average prices that can be calculated are published in the RPI Business Monitor MM23 since February 1993 and also in the Employment Gazette.