Chief Secretary to Treasury questioned on RPI

• Parliament TV: The use of RPI
• Inquiry: The use of RPI
• Select Committee on Economic Affairs

The evidence session will contribute to the Committee's inquiry into the use of RPI as a measure of inflation. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury will be joined by Sir Robert Stheeman, Chief Executive of the UK Debt Management Office and Steve Farrington, Deputy Director of EU Exit Analysis at the Treasury.

Witnesses

Tuesday 10 July in Committee Room 1, Palace of Westminster

At 3.35pm

• The Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP (Chief Secretary to the Treasury)
• Steve Farrington (Deputy Director, the Treasury)
• Sir Robert Stheeman (Chief Executive, United Kingdom Debt Management Office)

Likely questions

• Does the Treasury agree with the chair of the UK Statistics Authority that RPI is an “inadequate” measure of inflation?
• Would the Treasury welcome the abolition of RPI?
• Does the Government want to move to one official measure of inflation?
• Is it acceptable for the statistical authorities to treat RPI as a legacy measure when it is still in widespread use?
• Can the Government change the inflation index on existing index-linked gilts from RPI to consumer price index (CPI)?
• Why is the advice of the statistical authorities being ignored by the Government and RPI is continued to be used for uprating rail fares and calculating the interest on student loans?
• Why are public sector pensions and the state pension uprated by CPI, while the majority of private sector pensions are uprated by RPI?

Further information

• About Parliament: Select committees

• Visiting Parliament: Watch committees

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