asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what information is available to him from the household expenditure survey about trends in the expenditure of richer and poorer families, respectively, on items included in the cost of living index.

I have been asked to reply.Figures of average weekly expenditure on the main commodity and service groups for households with various levels of income are published regularly in the annual reports on the family expenditure survey, copies of which are in the Library.In the 1980 report table 7 shows expenditure figures for households with the lowest and highest 20 per cent. of gross weekly income, and table 6 shows expenditure figures for households at various levels of gross normal weekly income. Comparable figures are given in earlier reports. The report on the 1981 survey will be published next month.