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<p>The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics
Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.</p><p> </p><p><em><strong>Letter from
John Pullinger CB, National Statistician, to Lord Maginnis of Drumglass, dated 20
April 2018</strong></em></p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Dear Lord Maginnis,</p><p> </p><p>As
National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding
to your Parliamentary Question asking what was the percentage cost-of-living increases
nationally during each of the last five years; and what was the annual percentage
increase in rates in Northern Ireland over the same period <strong>(HL6934)</strong>.</p><p>
</p><p>The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH) is
our most comprehensive measure of inflation, and measures the change in price of a
fixed basket of goods and services. The 12-month percentage change in the index is
published on a monthly basis. The table below summarises the average 12-month percentage
change for each of the last five years.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Table 1: Annual average
percentage 12-month change, CPIH, UK, 2013 to 2017</strong></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year</p></td><td><p>Annual
average 12-m change (%)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2013</p></td><td><p>2.3</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2014</p></td><td><p>1.5</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015</p></td><td><p>0.4</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016</p></td><td><p>1.0</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017</p></td><td><p>2.6</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>
</p><p>These data are taken from Table 10 of our <em>Consumer Price Inflation </em>bulletin[1].
In this publication you will also find the 12-month CPIH inflation rates, and similar
figures for the Consumer Prices Index (CPI, the Monetary Policy Committee’s current
inflation target). CPIH is the same as CPI but includes Council Tax and a measure
of owner occupiers’ housing costs, which are not included in CPI. CPIH and CPI are
both National Statistics.</p><p> </p><p>Unfortunately, the Office for National Statistics
(ONS) does not currently produce an inflation measure for Northern Ireland. This is
because the price sample is optimised at the national level and therefore regional
price samples are small. Nevertheless, I do recognise that there is an important user
need for regional measures of inflation, and to address this ONS have asked the University
of Southampton to carry out a feasibility study into calculating regional price indices[2].</p><p>
</p><p>You may also be interested to know that ONS analysis suggests that prices in
Northern Ireland were on average 2.3% lower than the UK average for 2016. (Note that
this analysis refers to the relative difference in price between regions, which is
distinct from the rate at which prices change over time). This is taken from our <em>Relative
Regional Consumer Price Levels of Goods and Services, UK: 2016</em> publication[3],
which is based on estimates produced for Eurostat once every 6 years.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Yours
sincerely <strong>John Pullinger </strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>
</p><p>[1] <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/releases/ukconsumerpriceinflationmar2018"
target="_blank">https://www.ons.gov.uk/releases/ukconsumerpriceinflationmar2018</a></p><p>[2]
See our <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/articles/consumerpricesdevelopmentplan/2016-10-11"
target="_blank">Consumer Prices Development Plan</a>, section 3.3.5</p><p>[3]<a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/articles/relativeregionalconsumerpricelevelsuk/2016"
target="_blank">https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/articles/relativeregionalconsumerpricelevelsuk/2016</a></p><p>
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