Business
Economy
Calculating Inflation Takeaways go into the RPI basket Takeaway caffe latte makes an appearance in the Retail Prices Index (RPI) for the first time while brown ale goes back on the shelf, to reflect changing tastes and spending patterns.

The RPI basket of goods and services will widen its range of takeaway products and include dried potted snacks. It will also now track prices for diet aid drink powder and slimming clubs as people check their scales.

Today's high-speed lifestyle, with increasing use of takeaways and convenience foods, plus the growth of high street coffee shops, is changing the items priced each month and used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to compile the RPI - the main measure of inflation. Len Cook, the National Statistician, said: "Households appear to be changing their eating habits to cope with busy lives, changing tastes and leisure patterns."

The changes feed into the February RPI figure, which is due out tomorrow. They form part of an annual exercise by ONS to ensure the basket of goods and services in the RPI is up-to-date and representative of consumer spending. Consumers are also spending more on leisure activities and some personal care products, and in response to this the RPI will now also include golf green fees, horseracing admissions, hair and shower gel.

The prices for a number of goods and services will no longer be sampled every month. Out of the basket go brown ale, frozen fish in sauce, vinyl floor covering, fixed telephone handsets, women’s slips and lead replacement petrol. With a washing machine in most homes, and shoes increasingly replaced rather than repaired, laundrette charges and women’s shoe repair no longer justify their place in the basket. All these changes form part of the annual review of the ‘basket’ of 650 goods and services that are sampled every month to see how prices are changing.

New items are added to the basket to represent new or increasing areas of spending, while other items are deleted as spending on them falls. In Out Food Round lettuce Frozen fish in sauce Dried potted snack Tinned spaghetti Diet-aid drink powder Catering Takeaway caffe latte from coffee shops Takeaway burger in bun Takeaway kebab Alcohol Draught premium lager Brown ale Household goods.

Flat pack bookcase Vinyl floor covering Fixed telephone Complete dry dog food Dog mixer Single serve cat food Dry cat food Annual booster injection for dog Cat litter Household services Women's shoe repair Laundrette charge Clothing and footwear Women's slip Men's belt Personal goods and services Designer spectacles Battery powered clock Dental insurance Silver charm Hair gel Shower gel Slimming clubs Motoring expenditure Automatic car wash Lead replacement petrol Fares and other travel costs Air fares Leisure goods Car CD/radio autochanger Electronic keyboard Decorative outdoor plant pot Leisure services Golf non-member green fees Horseracing admissions