§ Sir HENRY NORMANasked the Secretary to the Treasury if a chauffeur who is temporarily absent with his employer from the United Kingdom is, during the absence, outside the National Insurance Act; whether his employer is required, during the absence, to pay contributions 2077W or deduct them from wages; whether, to avoid arrears, the chauffeur must, during absence, voluntarily pay his own contributions and his employer's, if the latter does not pay them; whether, on his return from temporary absence, the chauffeur, both classes of contributions being paid, is in the same position as when he left the United Kingdom, without having suffered any loss of insurance status or deprivation of claim; whether, on his return to the United Kingdom, he is entitled to full benefit for sickness or disablement incurred abroad; and whether an approved society will be permitted to penalise a member for temporary absence abroad?
§ Mr. MASTERMANWith regard to the first and second parts of the question, employment does not count for the purpose of the National Insurance Act unless it is employment in the United Kingdom, and the employer is not required during the absence to pay contributions, and as he pays nothing he can deduct nothing. The answer to the third part of the question is in the affirmative, except that the society may excuse the employer's share of the contribution. The answer to the fourth part of the question is in the affirmative. If by "sickness and disablement incurred abroad," in the fifth part of the question, my hon. Friend means sickness which started, or disablement which occurred abroad, the answer is also in the affirmative. The answer to the last part of the question would appear to be in the negative, though it might depend upon the form of penalisation which my hon. Friend has in mind.