HC Deb 02 April 1962 vol 657 cc21-3
28. Mr. Frank Allaun

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance the latest number of employees who have contracted out of the Government pension scheme.

The Minister of Pensions and National Insurance (Mr. Boyd-Carpenter)

The number is 4,437,703.

Mr. Allaun

Has the Minister noticed the fabulous rise in the profits and share prices of certain insurance companies as a result of the Government having framed such a rotten pension scheme and so many people contracting out; that, for instance, the Legal and General 5s. shares soared from £9 12s. to £39 17s. in the last three years and that insurance shares as a whole rose by no less than 31 per cent. in 1961 alone?

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

I have not followed the market in shares as closely as the hon. Member has done.

Mr. Allaun

But the Minister's friends have.

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

It was one of the original purposes of the 1959 scheme that there should be a proper and further development in private and occupational pension schemes, and I am very glad that that should be so.

Mr. Nabarro

Is my right hon. Friend aware that a substantial shareholder in all insurance companies is the National Union of Mineworkers?

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

In that case, in the light of what the hon. Member for Salford. East (Mr. Frank Allaun) has said, one must congratulate the union on the excellent counsel it appears to have on investments.

Mr. Dugdale

Is the Minister aware that, as a result of these additions to their capital, the insurance companies now own more than half of British industry?

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

If the right hon. Gentleman wishes to ask questions about the share ownership of the insurance industry, he must certainly not ask them of me.

34. Mr. Houghton

asked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance what will be the procedure in his Department after the expiry of the Income Tax year on 5th April regarding the recording of graduated contributions, and the notifications to insured persons of contributions paid; what will be the approximate number of contributors involved; and whether he will make a statement.

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

The Inland Revenue will send employers' P.A.Y.E returns to my Department's Central Office at Newcastle-upon-Tyne for entry of the employees' graduated contributions in their individual insurance accounts; these will be maintained on an electronic computer. When the recording process is complete, each employee shown as having paid graduated contributions will be sent a statement of account and explanatory leaflet. The number of contributors cannot be precisely forecast but is likely to be of the order of 11 million.

Mr. Houghton

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for that interesting description of an administrative nightmare. Will he say on what ground he calls the Tory Party soft, when it has erected this elaborate machinery for fleecing millions of graduated contributors?

Mr. Boyd-Carpenter

The charge of softness—as I am sure the hon. Member will agree—was directed only at the kindliness with which we treat him.