Written question asked by Rachel Reeves (Labour) on Thursday, 21 April 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 28 April 2011. It was answered by Justine Greening (Conservative) on Thursday, 28 April 2011 on behalf of the Treasury.

Consumer Prices Index

Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress he has made in working with the Bank of England to investigate how housing costs may be included in the consumer prices index as set out in the coalition agreement.

Answer: Both HM Treasury and the Bank of England are members of the Consumer Prices Advisory Committee (CPAC) that advises the United Kingdom Statistical Authority (UKSA) on improvements to the consumer prices index (CPI) recommended by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).PAC has been considering the inclusion of housing costs in CPI. On 6 December 2010 UKSA endorsed the recommendations of CPAC in their 2nd annual report that the ONS should further develop owner occupiers' housing costs indices, using the net acquisitions and rental equivalence approaches, for potential inclusion in an expanded CPI within two years.The papers from each CPAC meeting and the annual report are published by the ONS on their website.

Secondary information