HC Deb 07 March 2001 vol 364 cc233-6W
Mr. Field

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list for each of the past 20 years(a) the number of National Insurance numbers, (b) the number of National Insurance numbers created, (c) the number of National Insurance numbers cancelled and (d) the population aged 16 years or older. [151921]

Mr. Rooker

[holding answer 5 March 2001]: The information for the past 12 years is in the tables. There is no confirmed information available for earlier years.

There are currently 82 million NINOs in existence. This includes: approximately 13.5 million deceased records kept in case spouses make a claim on their partner's contribution. These cannot be used for fraud as they have a death date on them; approximately 12.5 million Child Reference Numbers for all children included on claims to Child Benefit. These become proper NINOs when the child reaches 16; of the remainder the vast majority are people who have moved abroad some of whom will return and need their NINO.

National Insurance numbers (NINOs) held
Million
Year Total of NINOs at 31 December
1989 58
1990 60
1991 61
1992 71
1993 75
1994 76
1995 77
1996 77
1997 79
1998 80
1999 81
2000 82

Note:

Figures rounded to the nearest million.

Number of national insurance numbers created per year
Year (January to December) NINOs created
1989 894,000
1990 1,862,000
1991 1,146,000
1992 9,765,000
1993 3,292,000
1994 1,057,000
1995 1,008,000
1996 979,000
1997 1,018,000
1998 1,027,000
1999 1,023,000
2000 996,000

Notes:

1.Figures rounded to the nearest thousand.

2.The reason for the large increase in NINO creation for years 1990–93 is:

During 1990–91 NINOs were created for all those customers in receipt of retirement pensions where the customer did not have a NINO.

During 1992–93 Child Reference Numbers (CRN) for all children included on claims to Child Benefit were allocated. CRNs become NINOs when the child reaches age 16.

Number of national insurance numbers removed per year
Year (January to December) NINOs removed
1989 13,000
1990 18,000
1991 19,000
1992 21,000
1993 19,000
1994 15,000
Number of national insurance numbers removed per year
Year (January to December) NINOs removed
1995 16,000
1996 55,000
1997 58,000
1998 38,000
1999 61,000
2000 182,000

Notes:

1. Figures rounded to the nearest million.

2.The varying figures for removals are due to the varying Data Cleanse exercises (i.e. not all of the exercises involved the removal of records).

Estimated mid-year resident population aged 16 and over, 1979–99
thousands
Mid-year UK population over age 16
1979 43,210.1
1980 43,535.9
1981 43,814.7
1982 44,028.1
1983 44,311.1
1984 44,620.2
1985 44,931.8
1986 45,183.0
1987 45,439.7
1988 45,625.8
1989 45,811.3
1990 45,942.4
1991 46,071.3
1992 46,161.4
1993 46,231.5
1994 46,325.6
1995 46,505.0
1996 46,708.0
1997 46,906.6
1998 47,126.5
1999 47,387.0

Mr. Willetts

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 7 February 2001,Official Report, column 552W, on national insurance numbers, what reasons underlay the increase in the number of national insurance numbers removed from the Departmental Central Index. [152442]

Mr. Rooker

The primary objective of the Departmental Central Index (DCI) Data Cleaning Project was to undertake an analysis of the DCI database to identify specific data issues which would need to be resolved to clean up the DCI database.

The Project removed 182,000 National Insurance Numbers (NINOs) during this financial year—more than in the whole of the last Parliament. The increase in the number of NINOs removed is due to the Project designing various enhanced IT scans which identified high risk records and continued to target duplicate records. Since the Project commenced only 10 fraudulent NINOs have been discovered, the vast majority were duplicates.

Mr. Willetts

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many new national insurance numbers have been(a) created and (b) cancelled in each year since 1992. [148487]

Mr. Rooker

[pursuant to the reply, 7 February 2001, c. 552 W]: The information is in the table.

January to December NINOs created on DCI NINOs removed from DCI
1992 9,765,000 21,000
1993 3,292,000 19,000
1994 1,057,000 15,000
1995 1,008,000 16,000
1996 979,000 55,000
1997 1,018,000 58,000
1998 1,027,000 38,000
1999 1,023,000 61,000
2000 996,000 182,000

Note:

Departmental Central Index (DCI)