§ Mr. Murphyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what recent representations he has received urging the abolition of the national insurance levy on self-employed earnings; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RossiIf, as I assume, my hon. Friend refers to class 4 national insurance contributions, I have received 11 letters in the last six months urging their abolition. During our review of the self-employed in national insurance only one of the 16 organisations and 17 of the 63 individuals who made representations suggested abolishing class 4 contributions. These contributions go into the national insurance fund to help finance benefit expenditure, and doing away with them would mean much higher class 2 contributions, which would bear most heavily on self-employed people with small earnings.