Make and explore Freedom of Information requestsFollow this request
There is 1 person following this request
Act on what you've learnt
Similar requests
Release of CPI/RPI price quotes data
To Office for National Statistics by Simon Briscoe 26 September 2011
Problems with the new ONS website
To Office for National Statistics by Simon Briscoe 26 September 2011
ONS website relaunch
To Office for National Statistics by Simon Briscoe 26 September 2011
CPI costings
To Office for National Statistics by Lisa Evans 17 February 2011
Request to see the wording which allows teachers' pensions indexing to change from RPI to CPI inflation
To Department for Education by L Kempton 16 February 2011
THe Law that dictates how much a person needs to live on
To Department for Work and Pensions by B Meinhardt 26 December 2010
Request to see Towers Watson response to "The impact of CPI as the measure of price increase on private sector occupational pension schemes" consultation.
To Department for Work and Pensions by Mike Post 19 August 2011
Request to see communications relating to the use of RPI and CPI for pension increases.
To UK Statistics Authority by Mike Post 19 September 2011
Public and private sector pay data
To Office for National Statistics by Dylan Childs 6 July 2011
Consumer Prices Collection - UK
Kristian Niemietz made this Freedom of Information request to Office for National Statistics
The request was refused by Office for National Statistics.
From: Kristian Niemietz
14 November 2008
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am a PhD research student at King's College London and I need to
calculate the cost of a pre-defined list of goods and services, in
every UK region, and for as long a timespan as possible.
In other words, I need to calculate a sub-index of the CPI/RPI and
therefore need the underlying raw data, which is, the individual
price quotes of each item, in all areas and until as far back as
available.
There is a section on the web site where it says: "Each month
around 120,000 separate price quotations are collected for around
650 items which make up the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) and the
Retail Price Index (RPI) `basket' of goods and services."
(http://www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/So...)
It is THESE 120,000 price quotations that I need, for each month
since collection began, and seperately for each region.
I know that the summary indices are published, but I cannot use
your summary indicators, because my index has a totally different
purpose. I therefore need to select a very specific subset of
prices and use different weights than you do. There is no other way
of doing this than accessing the raw data itself.
My thesis is not going to reveal raw data to anyone but will
contain my summary price indices, of course with due source
recognition.
Thank you very much for your help.
Yours faithfully,
Kristian Niemietz
From: Colin Downing
Office for National Statistics
20 November 2008
Dear Kristian
Thank you for you email.
Your request for access to price quotations under the Freedom of
Information Act is exempt under section 44 (prohibitions on disclosure).
This states that information is exempt if the public authority holding it
is prohibited by any other enactment. In this instance we are prevent from
releasing this information to you by section 39 of the Statistics and
Registration Services Act 2007 which prohibits personal information being
disclosed by ONS except under certain prescribed conditions.
An option would be to access the data within the Virtual Microdata
Laboratory >> http://www.ons.gov.uk/about/who-we-are/o... which
was specifically designed for analysis of disclosive data under safe
conditions. Although not listed on the website both CPI and RPI have just
been added to the datasets available.
You have the statutory right to ask for an internal review of this
decision, and following that, if you are still unhappy with the decision,
you may appeal to the Information Commission. To ask for an internal review
of this case you should write to Mike Hughes, 1 Myddelton Street,
Islington, London, EC1R 1UW
regards
Colin
Data Access Unit
Legal Services
ONS
01329 444 015
For the latest data on the economy and society consult National Statistics at http://www.statistics.gov.uk
show quoted sections
Legal Disclaimer : Any views expressed by the sender of this message are not necessarily those of the Office for National Statistics
*********************************************************************************
show quoted sections
From: Kristian Niemietz
21 November 2008
Dear Colin,
thank you for your reply. I would certainly consider an internal
review, but perhaps there is an easier way. You mention a Virtual
Microdata Laboratory. Does that have prices of individual goods and
services (as opposed to aggregates as in the CPI/RPI)? Is it
downloadable?
If not, is there a way to simply delete the part which is
confidential, and send me a "safe" version? I am not interested in
personal information about anyone. My research merely involves
prices, prices which anyone can observe by just going to a
supermarket and look at the price tags (only that that would take a
century, in my case). For my statistical analysis, I need to know
what a bottle of milk costs in London today, what it cost in
Manchester in August 1992, and what it cost in Liverpool in
February 1977 - but not the name of the seller, or anything
personal at all.
Apologies for being insistent on this, but this is really the
linchpin of my PhD thesis.
Yours sincerely,
Kristian Niemietz
From: Colin Downing
Office for National Statistics
27 November 2008
Dear Kristian
ONS does not produce non-disclosive datasets from business surveys. I
believe this is due to difficulties in producing a product that is both
safe and of any practical use.
The datasets lodged in the VML do contain the specific prices you require.
regards
Colin
Data Access Unit
ONS - part of the United Kingdom Statistics Authority
01329 444 015
request-4143-ff0e333d@whatdot
heyknow.com To: Colin Downing/CEND/CPSG/TITCHFIELD/ONS@ONS
cc:
21/11/2008 15:09 Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Consumer Prices Collection - UK
Dear Colin,
thank you for your reply. I would certainly consider an internal
review, but perhaps there is an easier way. You mention a Virtual
Microdata Laboratory. Does that have prices of individual goods and
services (as opposed to aggregates as in the CPI/RPI)? Is it
downloadable? If not, is there a way to simply delete the part
which is confidential, and send me a "safe" version? I am not
interested in personal information about anyone. My research merely
involves prices, prices which anyone can observe by just going to a
supermarket and look at the price tags (only that that would take a
century, in my case). For my statistical analysis, I need to know
what a bottle of milk costs in London today, what it cost in
Manchester in August 1992, and what it cost in Liverpool in
February 1977 - but not the name of the seller, or anything
personal at all. Apologies for being insistent on this, but this is
really the linchpin of my PhD thesis.
Yours sincerely,
Kristian Niemietz
show quoted sections
From: Kristian Niemietz
3 December 2008
Dear Colin,
thank you for your reply. I will consider applying for accessing
the dataset in VML.
The crucial question that remains is: Will I then be able to
download the dataset? Viewing it once or twice would no help me
further, I need to use it for calculations.
Yours sincerely,
Kristian Niemietz
From: Kristian Niemietz
15 December 2008
Dear Colin,
I have been asked to clarify my request:
The idea of my thesis is that I will construct a measure of
'absolute poverty', based on a the cost of a list of 'basic' or
'essential' goods and services. There will be a list of the style
Good A: Units: 2; Price per unit: £3;
Good B: Units: 1; Price per unit: £4;
---
Sum: (2*£3) + (1*£4) = £10
Hence, £10 would be the poverty line, and anyone earning less than
£10 would be considered to be in absolute poverty. This poverty
line needs to be calculated seperately for each region and each
year. Prices would always be averaged over a year, in order to
avoid biases caused by short-term price fluctuations.
As you can see, this list can only be constructed by accessing raw
data on individual prices, not by aggregates. The aggregates
include the prices of upmarket products, which are not relevant in
this case, because I am looking at people who buy only basic goods
in cheap stores.
Please let me know if further clarification is needed - I am happy
to provide it.
Yours sincerely,
Kristian Niemietz
From: Kristian Niemietz
19 January 2009
Dear Sir or Madam,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Office for National
Statistics's handling of my FOI request 'Consumer Prices Collection
- UK'.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/co...
Yours sincerely,
Kristian Niemietz
From: FOI Team
Office for National Statistics
23 January 2009
Kristian,
thank you for your email requesting an internal review.
I am rather confused though by your previous emails. You have suggested
that you were asked to clarify your request, but you don't say by whom, it
would help me to deal with this case if you could let me know who it was
you have been speaking to within ONS. It would also help if you could
provide a contact telephone number so I can explain to you the difficulties
in providing the information you have requested through a simple FOI
request. As previously stated the Section 39 of the Statistics and
Registration Service Act prohibits ONS from releasing personal data (which
includes data provided by businesses) except in some specific
circumstances. We appreciate why you need the information, but we cannot
break the law to give it to you. and as such the FOI has exemptions to
prevent this from happening.
My colleague Mr Downing suggested that you contact the VML, but I have
spoken with them and they have no record of you contacting them. Gaining
access through the VML is likely to be you best option.
I will of course pass your request onto our internal review manager, but as
I have stated the quickest route may be through the VML.
Kind regards
Nikki Shearman
FOI Manager,
Office for National Statistics
request-4143-ff0e333d@whatdot
heyknow.com To: FOI Team@ONS
cc:
19/01/2009 17:42 Subject: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Consumer Prices
Collection - UK
Dear Sir or Madam,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Office for National
Statistics's handling of my FOI request 'Consumer Prices Collection
- UK'.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/co...
Yours sincerely,
Kristian Niemietz
show quoted sections
From: Kristian Niemietz
4 February 2009
Dear Nikki,
sorry for not responding earlier, been busy with other stuff.
Anyway:
"You have suggested that you
were asked to clarify your
request, but you don't say by
whom, it would help me to
deal with this case"
I have received an automatic mail which did not specify any name. I
thought this was because somebody from the ONS asked me to clarify
the request via the "Whatdotheyknow"-page (and hence the
automaticised format).
"It would also help if you could
provide a contact telephone number"
Sure, that's [mobile number redacted].
"My colleague Mr Downing suggested
that you contact the VML, but I
have spoken with them and they
have no record of you contacting them"
It was not quite clear to me what kind of data there is at the VML
and in which way I can access it, but still, I will contact them
today.
Thanks.
Yours sincerely,
Kristian Niemietz
From: FOI Team
Office for National Statistics
5 February 2009
Kristian,
thank you for the email.
Its good to hear that your going to speak to the VML today, I think they
should be able to provide you with what you need, if there are any problems
please don't hesitate to come back to me.
Regards,
Nikki
request-4143-ff0e333d@whatdot
heyknow.com To: FOI Team@ONS
cc:
04/02/2009 18:07 Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Consumer Prices Collection - UK
Dear Nikki,
sorry for not responding earlier, been busy with other stuff.
Anyway:
"You have suggested that you were asked to clarify your request,
but you don't say by whom, it would help me to deal with this case"
I have received an automatic mail which did not specify any name. I
thought this was because somebody from the ONS asked me to clarify
the request via the "Whatdotheyknow"-page (and hence the
automaticised format).
"It would also help if you could provide a contact telephone
number"
Sure, that's [mobile number redacted].
"My colleague Mr Downing suggested that you contact the VML, but I
have spoken with them and they have no record of you contacting
them"
It was not quite clear to me what kind of data there is at the VML
and in which way I can access it, but still, I will contact them
today. Thanks.
Yours sincerely,
Kristian Niemietz
show quoted sections
From: Thea J Thomas
Office for National Statistics
5 February 2009
Dear Kristian
I have been passed your recent correspondence from Nicola Shearman. Please
find attached a link to the VML web site. Please see sections "About the
VML - Datasets available" and "Accessing the VML - How to access the VML"
which has Customer Request Forms and Approved Researcher forms available to
download.
http://www.ons.gov.uk/about/who-we-are/o...
If you require any further information, regarding access, datasets etc.
please let me know.
Regards
Thea
Micro-data Analysis and User Support | Social Economic Micro Analysis and
Reporting Division | Office for National Statistics | Cardiff Road |
Newport Wales | NP10 8XG Room, 2.101
Phone: 01633 45 5844 | Internal Extension: 5844 | Email: [email address] |
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/
For the latest data on the economy and society consult National Statistics at http://www.statistics.gov.uk
show quoted sections
Legal Disclaimer : Any views expressed by the sender of this message are not necessarily those of the Office for National Statistics
*********************************************************************************
show quoted sections
Things to do with this request
- Add an annotation (to help the requester or others)
- Download a zip file of all correspondence