§ 21 and 27. Dame Irene Wardasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance (1) what contributions have been received anually to date in respect of pensions paid to late entrants under the National Insurance Act, 1948;
§ (2) how many late entrants were received under the National Insurance Act, 1948; and how many completions of the 10 years' contributions were registered.
§ Miss HerbisonIt was estimated that about 500,000 late-age entrants came into insurance at 5th July, 1948, and that about 300,000 of them completed 10 years' insurance.
I regret that no information is available concerning the amount of contributions received.
§ Dame Irene WardI thank the right hon. Lady for that information but is it not rather difficult, in dealing with the Insurance Fund, not to have the full figures of contributions and payments available? Did the right hon. Lady base what used to be her opposition to the Bill presented last year by my hon. Friend the Member for Abingdon (Mr. Neave) on these kind of facts?
§ Miss HerbisonNo, Sir. I opposed it because insurance in this country is based on regular contributions.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterWhy are the figures for contributions not available? The contribution rates for these years are known and the right hon. Lady has given the number of people involved.
§ Miss HerbisonThe rates of contributions paid by them were also paid by many other contributors and were not recorded separately. No one should know that better than the right hon. Gentleman. It is not possible to distinguish them or their effect.