Clause 1 (Hansard, 19 May 1986)

§ Mr. Major
I beg to move amendment No. 1 in page 1, line 15, leave out from 'election' to 'and' in line 16 and insert 'which is still operative that her liability in respect of primary Class 1 contributions shall be a liability to contribute at a reduced rate'.

§ Mr. Speaker
Before we discuss Government amendment No. 1, it would be right for me to tell the House that I have reconsidered my provisional selection of amendments. I have selected amendment No. 206 in the name of the right hon. Member for Manchester, Wythenshawe (Mr. Morris) and his hon. Friends. This amendment will fall for debate immediately after Government amendment No. 59, that is, after the 9 o'clock guillotine.

§ Mr. Harry Cohen (Leyton)
On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. In view of the importance of the comments which have been made about child benefit and the fact that you have just added to your selection of amendments to be discussed, will you consider adding the debate on child benefit under new clause I later in the evening so that the House can give a view on the matter?

§ Mr. Speaker
The hon. Gentleman has been a member of this House for long enough to know that we move forward and not backwards in this place.

§ Mr. Major
This is a drafting amendment which clarifies the intent of subsection (1)(b) of clause 1 which states that married women and widows who have opted to pay reduced rates of national insurance contributions are excluded from receiving the contracted-out rebate. This is not a piece of miscellaneous beastliness but simply reflects the fact that they are not covered by SERPS and consequently have no SERPS pension to contract out of. It would therefore be extremely odd to pay a rebate. I draw to the attention of the House that an optant who wishes the DHSS to pay minimum contributions to her personal pension will first need to end her election.

§ Mr. Major
I beg to move amendment No. 189, in page 2, line 12, at end insert— 76 `(4A) If the Secretary of State pays art amount by way of minimum contributions which he is not required to pay, he may recover it from the person to whom he paid it or from any person in respect of whom he paid it. (4B) If he pays in respect of an earner an amount by way of minimum contributions which he is required to pay, but does not pay it to the trustees or managers of the earner's chosen scheme, he may recover it from the person to whom he paid it or from the earner.'

§ Mr. Speaker
With this it will be convenient to discuss Government amendments Nos. 190, 191 and 194.

§ Mr. Major
These amendments ensure that the Secretary of State has a legal right to recover any wrong payments of minimum contributions through the contracted-out rebate under clause 1 or incentive payments—the 2 per cent. incentive under clause 7—and to restore to the national insurance fund the amounts recovered. They also clarify that regulations under the Social Security Act 1975 can enable amounts owed by a person to the Secretary of State to be offset against a refund of overpaid national insurance contributions to that person.
I shall give examples of how this will work if pressed, but it is a fairly straightforward and non-contentious proposal and, for the present, I merely commend the amendments to the House.

§ Mr. Major
I beg to move amendment No. 2, in page 2, line 30, leave out from 'date' to end of line 32 and insert 'some other appropriate scheme is the earner's chosen scheme'. This is a drafting amendment which is required for clarification because clause 3 does not provide for exceptions to clause 1 as the existing words may be read to suggest. The substituted words in amendment No. 2 achieve the intended effect that a person cannot nominate a personal pension scheme to receive his minimum contributions from DHSS Newcastle without cancelling a previous nomination which is still valid.