asked the Secretary of State for Prices and Consumer Protection how many applications for price increases the Price Commission has received in the current year; how many it has granted, giving details of the increases; how many investigations are pending; how many interim price increases, pending the reports, have been made; what increases have been granted; and to what extent all of these increases have affected the cost of living index.
The Price Commission does not grant price increases. The larger firms are required to notify details of price increases to the Commission, and the Commission has to decide whether or not to investigate them within 28 days of the notification being made. The handling of these notifications, and the issue of notices removing price restrictions during investigation, are matters for the Commission, and I am asking the Chairman to write to my hon. Friend on these points. Thirteen investigations have been announced by the Commission, but none has been completed. It is not possible to calculate separately the effect of prices increases notified to the Price Commission on the retail price index, but the index has risen by 11 per cent. in 1977 so far.