You asked
We realise that the ONS publishes monthly price quotes data at the geographic level of NUTS 1. Would it be possible for us to apply for monthly price quotes data at the level of NUTS2, county, or police forces from 2002 to 2019?
We said
Thank you for your enquiry requesting monthly price quote data at NUTS 2 geographic level.
The consumer price inflation indices sample (for the local collection) is selected using the "location allocation" method. This approach forms a sample frame for field collection based on retail turnover (or previously retail employment) hotspots. The locations are selected using probability proportion to size (PPS) systematic sampling at region (or NUTS 1) level, with the number of locations selected in each region determined as the proportion of national expenditure taking place in that region, multiplied by the total number of locations to be visited nationally. As the sampling takes place at NUTS 1, there is no guarantee that the regional sample would be representative at a lower level. Regional research is not intended to look at lower level geographies, only the NUTS 1 regions.
Further information on the location sampling can be found in Section 5.2 of the Consumer Prices Indices Technical Manual, 2019 (https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/methodologies/consumerpricesindicestechnicalmanual2019#sampling-procedures)
Each month, we published the item price quotes at the NUTS 1 region level. We are unable to convert these to NUTS 2 subdivisions and our sampled locations are not released.
Consequently, in order to provide the information you have requested, we would need to create analysis, which we are not obligated to do under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. However, even if we were to do this, our sampling methodology is not appropriate for NUTS2 level data and therefore would not be suitable for your requirements.
Going forward, it is our intention to develop regional price indices, which will be reliant on the alternative data sources we are developing ahead of their inclusion in the consumer price inflation measures for 2023.