§ Sir Timothy SainsburyTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 20 February,Official Report, column 275, on consumer expenditure patterns, if he will ask the Retail Prices Index Advisory Committee to consider how the retail prices index might be modified to take better account of the spending patterns of consumers varying in response to sales and special offers. [15387]
§ Mr. NelsonI have no plans to do so. The Retail Prices Index Advisory Committee has recommended repeatedly that the quantities and qualities of the contents of the RPI basket should be held constant during the year. The weights given to different items and types of shop are, therefore, reviewed annually. This reflects changes in consumers' shopping patterns more closely than in most other countries, which only re-weight their indices at intervals of about five years.