§ Mr. Frank FieldTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many workers failed to pay full national insurance contributions in the last year for which figures are available; and if he will give the distribution and the spread and the number of weeks of contributions not covered by the weighted number of workers.
§ Mr. ArbuthnotThe administration of national insurance is the responsibility of Mr. George Bertram, the acting chief executive of the Contributions Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
74W
Period Number of sickness benefit spells commencing in the period, where the claimant declared themselves self-employed, and did not satisfy the contribution conditions for the payment of the benefit. 1 April 1991 to 4 April 1992 35,000 6 April 1992 to 3 April 1993 35,000 Notes:
1. The employment status is that declared by the claimant at the start of their spell of incapacity, and is not verified by the Department. There are a number of spells where the employment status is not known or "other".
2. The information is based on a 1 per cent. sample of claimants to benefit in Great Britain, and is rounded to the nearest thousand.