FOI Reference: FOI/2022/4366
You asked
Please provide me with a spreadsheet containing an itemized list of every product included in the basket for 2022, including:
1) brand and name/description (including, where applicable, volume, eg 500g tin) of product
2) the retailer(s) the price is monitored at
3) the indices code and group under which it is categorised (eg L7JM: 0.1.1.1 Rice)
4) the price of the product for each month beginning January 2019 to the present
I would like this data provided for the following categories of goods:
01.1 - food
01.2 - non-alcoholic beverages
02.1 - alcoholic beverages
05.6 - goods and services for routine maintenance
12.1.3.2 - articles for personal hygiene and wellness
We said
Thank you for your enquiry regarding the product details collected as part of the 2022 consumer price inflation basket of goods and services.
The price quote data collected to calculate the aggregates listed in your enquiry are collected by our local collectors, who visit sampled stores and outlets in 140 locations across the UK, or by quarterly telephone survey (for the services listed under 05.6.2 Domestic services and household services).
We do not disclose the location, retailer, or product brand for any price quote as this information could potentially influence the measures of consumer price inflation. Where sampled, the retailers will be a mix of large, multiple retailers (including convenience stores) and smaller independent retailers (with less than 10 outlets). The sampled items will be representative of the products available in the sampled outlet.
Each month, we publish an anonymised dataset containing the locally collected price quote data. The monthly price quote file contains the anonymised item description (including the item volume or volume range, where necessary) and the collected price.
Alongside the price quote data, we also publish the item indices. The quote and item indices files can be found at the following link:
Consumer price inflation item indices and price quotes
All of the aggregate indices between the "All items" indices and COICOP level 5 aggregates (e.g. 01.1.1.1 Rice), we publish up to 13 months' worth of data in our Consumer price inflation tables, which can be downloaded from the following link:
Consumer price inflation tables
Alternatively, the series can be extracted from our timeseries dataset either individually, by entering the series' unique 4-digit identifier (e.g. L7JM) in the search engine on the Office for National Statistics website, or in our comprehensive database, which can be found at the following link: Consumer price inflation time series
You may also find the following article helpful, as this describes the review process and explains how and why the various items in the inflation baskets are chosen: Consumer price inflation basket of goods and services: 2022
The information requested regarding the location, retailer, and product brand for any price quote is exempt under Section 29(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), as the disclosure of this information would likely prejudice the financial interests of any administration in the United Kingdom by compromising the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and, by extension, inflation. The measures of Consumer price inflation are used extensively to uprate benefits, pensions, contracts and agreements. Any manipulation could have an adverse effect on the prices consumers pay or the income they receive.
This exemption is subject to a public interest test. Whilst we recognise arguments in favour of promoting accountability and transparency of the information held by public authorities, we feel this has been sufficiently accounted for by the information we have linked to in our response.
We also value the public interest in ensuring the stability of the UK economy. Should this be disrupted by challenge to current interest-rates, inflation, and economic policies, this would have a detrimental impact on a wide range of areas, impacting thousands of members of the public. We therefore believe it is in the greater public interest to withhold the requested information to prevent the potential harm caused by such disruption.