Laptops and mobiles added to inflation "shopping basket"

Pay-as-you-go mobile phones and laptops have been added to the list of goods used to measure the annual increase in consumer prices by the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

Both were previously lumped in with other categories but such is the increasing popularity of the items that the ONS has been forced to give each its own separate category in the consumer price index (CPI).

The CPI is used to help track price rises and comes from the ONS' annual consumer "shopping basket" of 650 goods, which is used as a barometer of spending trends and patterns in the UK.

The basket contains a list of the most popular kinds of goods bought by consumers. Last year saw digital cameras and CDs bought over the internet added to the basket while minidisc players, along with frozen turkey, cheese slices and gin, were dropped.

The ONS' updated consumer shopping basket for 2005 is due to be published next month.