HL Deb 16 October 2000 vol 617 cc67-8WA
Lord Jacobs

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What the retail price index would be, excluding mortgage interest payments (RPIX) in August if the depreciation component of the RPI for owner occupied houses had been introduced in 1950 based upon a rate of inflation since 1950 of 2,000 per cent and an increase in house prices of 4,750 per cent. [HL4063]

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter to Lord Jacobs from the National Statistician and Registrar General for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics, Mr Len Cook, dated 16 October 2000.

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent parliamentary Question, which asks what the Retail Price Index would be, excluding mortgage interest payments (RPIX) in August if the depreciation component of the RPI for owner occupied houses had been introduced in 1950 based upon a rate of inflation since 1950 of 2,000 per cent and an increase in house prices of 4,750 per cent.

The historical RPIX series cannot be recalculated with the addition of depreciation as the index would have to be re-weighted for all years and this could only be undertaken at disproportionate cost.