§ Mr. Ralph HowellTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what are the reasons for changing the manner of expressing the former earnings of unemployed persons on the tax/benefit tables from whole number decimal places in such a way as to make direct year by year comparisons of tax/benefit more difficult.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe tables reflect the tax, national insurance, and benefit structures in particular financial years. Nominal earnings levels in any one year cannot be compared directly with the same nominal levels in another because of changes in price levels. The first gross wage level in table II of both the 1986 and 1987 editions gives the precise upper level of former wages which is consistent with the receipt of maximum family income supplement. Higher earnings levels are then shown in £1 steps. In earlier editions, the initial level of former earnings in table II was rounded to the nearest £1. The 1988 tables revert to this presentation. These differences in convention reflect no more than the degree of rounding chosen.