57 and 58. Mr. WORTHINGTONEVANSasked the Secretary to the Treasury (1) what are the periods within which the reserve values are expected to be redeemed if the National Insurance Act (1911) Amendment Bill is passed in its present form, and if no Amendment is made to the National Insurance Act respectively; what is the annual value spread over the shorter period of postponing the redemption of reserve values by the difference between such periods; and (2) what is the annual sum released and made available for benefits under the National Insurance Act (1911) Amendment, Bill by postponing the redemption of reserve values by the aggregate of ten months, ten weeks, and six months?
§ Mr. MASTERMANIf the Bill becomes law in its present form, the estimated period over which the redemption of reserve values will extend is between 19½ 27 and 19¾ years. The corresponding period under the National Insurance Act is 18¼ years. The average annual amount made available for benefits by this extension of the period for the redemption of the reserve values is £320,000, but the actual charge is a diminishing sum which is at its maximum in the year 1915.
Mr. WORTHINGTON-EVANSWhat is the annual sum released by postponing the redemption of the reserve values by the aggregate of ten months, ten weeks, and six months? Is it mentioned in the actuaries' Report?
§ Mr. MASTERMAN£320,000.
Mr. WORTHINGTON-EVANSDoes the right hon. Gentleman mean that that is the equivalent to both dealings with the reserve?
§ Mr. MASTERMANEquivalent to both dealings with the redemption periods of reserve values.
60. Mr. WORTHINGTON-EVANSasked what is the amount of the annual sum required to redeem the additional reserve values of £2,462,000 and £827,000 referred to in Mr. Watson's Report (Cd. 6898) within twenty years or within such other period as by that Report it is proposed to redeem such additional reserve values?
§ Mr. MASTERMANIt is not proposed to assign any separate annual sum to the redemption of the additional reserve values required by the proposals of the Bill. The effect of increasing the reserve values by the sums named in the question will be, firstly, to increase the total amount to be paid off, and, secondly, to increase the annual charge on the income for the provision of interest on the reserve values outstanding. The combined effect of the increase of the debt and the diminution, after providing for interest, of the sums available for its redemption, will be to extend a period of redemption by a period estimated at approximately one year.