asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish in the Official Report (a) the percentage decrease in the internal purchasing power of the pound in 1977 and (b) for 1977, the sum of money giving an internal purchasing power equivalent to £1 in 1946.

During 1977 the internal purchasing power of the pound, measured by the movement in the retail prices index, fell by 9·0 per cent. Long-run comparisons on this basis can only be regarded as approximations to the actual movement in prices: in these terms £6·28 in 1977 gave an internal purchasing power equivalent to £1 in 1946.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) if he will publish in the Official Report a table showing for each month since March 1977 the new and old indices of the trade weighted depreciation of the £ sterling;(2) if he will publish a table showing for each member country of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development the percentage change in the trade weighted external value of its currency since mid-February 1974, arranged in descending order of appreciation.

The information requested is as follows: