The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 8 July 2008:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what assessment has been made of the effects of fuel prices on the cost of living. (215965)
The Retail Prices Index (RPI) and the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), both measure the change in the prices of goods and services bought for the purpose of consumption by the vast majority of households in the UK.
For the RPI, petrol and oil increased by 18.4 per cent between May 2007 and May 2008. This represents a contribution of 0.7 percentage points to the overall RPI rate of 4.3 per cent. Similarly, for the CPI fuels and lubricants increased by 19.5 per cent between May 2007 and May 2008. This represents a contribution of 0.7 percentage points to the overall CPI rate of 3.3 per cent.