asked the Secretary of State for Employment what arrangements are required to enable London weighting allowances to be updated; and if he will make a statement.

My Department has for some years published index numbers of rents and other housing costs and fares in the Greater London area and in the rest of the United Kingdom. These will now be discontinued and replaced by the more extensive price index numbers needed to recalculate the London weighting allowances established last year. These new price index numbers will be published in June each year relating to the preceding April.