§ Mr. Neil Hamiltonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many persons in the United Kingdom are classed by the Inland Revenue as self-employed; and what percentage of the insured working population this represents.
§ Mr. MooreFor 1981–82, the latest year for which information is available, approximately 2.2 million people had their main source of income assessed to tax under case I or II of schedule D. This represents a little under 9 per cent. of those paying national insurance contributions for 1980–81 —the last year for which Department of Health and Social Security information is available. Tables published in theEmployment Gazette for October 1983 contain an estimate of approximately 2.3 million self-employed people in June 1983, an increase of 400,000 since 1979.