§ 21. Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what proposals he has for changing the procedure whereby self-employed persons are not covered by reciprocal arrangements within the European Economic Community although they have paid national insurance contributions in the same way as employed persons.
§ Mr. AlisonThe United Kingdom has bilateral reciprocal agreements on social security with each of the countries of the Community. These cover self-employed persons for cash benefits. We shall endeavour to widen this cover, where possible, to include medical benefits either through bilateral arrangements or by an extension of the scope of the EEC Social Security Regulations, but this will undoubtedly take some time to achieve 7W because most EEC countries at present exclude self-employed people from their medical benefit schemes.