§ Mr. Spearingasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if obligations to harmonise social security provisions in accordance with Article 118 of the Treaty of Rome include associated obligations under Article 6 to comply with any common policy for raising the respective financial resources.
§ Sir K. JosephThere is nothing in the Treaty of Rome or the Community rules which requires the United Kingdom to change the level or type of its social security benefits or the system of financing them. Article 118 of the Treaty lays upon the Commission the task of promoting close co-operation between Member States in, among other social matters, those relating to social security and Article 117 expresses the belief that the functioning of the Common Market will favour the harmonisation of social systems. As I stated in the House on 22nd October, 1971, we shall expect to join in that upward harmonisation, but there will be no obligation upon us to change.—[Vol. 823, c. 1115.]