§ Miss Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what would be the net annual saving if the adult short-term flat-rate national insurance benefits and invalidity benefit were uprated in line with inflation in November and were treated as taxable income from then.
§ Mr. PrenticeThe additional cost, above that of the uprating recently announced, of increasing adult flat-rate short-term and invalidity national insurance benefits in line with the estimated increase in prices would be about £130 million in a full year. A precise estimate of the tax yield if such an increase were made and the benefits were taxed is not available, but on the basis of estimates made for the tax year 1979–80 it could be expected to be of the order of £450 million.