§ Malcolm BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent research has been conducted into benefit uprating methods; and what conclusions were drawn from recent reviews of uprating methods. [97684]
§ Mr. McCartney[holding answer 13 February 2003]: We meet our statutory obligation by uprating benefits by the retail prices index (RPI) or Rossi (RPI less housing costs) to maintain their value in real terms.
RPI is a reliable measure of the impact of inflation on family budgets. Over 120,000 prices are collected every month, for a basket of goods and services covering the full range of consumers'expenditure. The basket is reviewed and updated annually to take account of changes in the pattern of expenditure. In addition, there is a programme of research into the methodology used in the RPI.