§ Lord Lucasasked Her Majesty's Government:
For each of the last 50 years and in total (in so far as statistics are available) what were:
- (a) average household earnings;
- (b) the retail prices index;
- (c) the price of a standard unit of housing;
- (d) (c) divided by (a); and
- (e) (a) divided by (b). [HL3391]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Lord McIntosh of Haringey)The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from the National Statistician, Len Cook, dated 30 June 2003.
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent question on average household earnings, the retail price index and the price of a standard unit of housing over the last 50 years. (HL3391)
I regret that we are unable to provide an answer at this time. We are investigating the cause of an unexpected result in one of the data series that you requested. This work is proceeding as a matter of urgency.
A full answer will be provided shortly once this issue has been resolved.