§ Mr. Matherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the annual cost of printing the self-employed person contribution card (CF1), the child benefit order book (CH16T) and the pension order book, respectively; and how many copies of each type are printed.
§ Mr. DeakinsThe cost of printing 3,120,000 copies of the self-employed persons contribution card for the year 19777–8 is estimated at £18,000. Child benefit order books have not yet been printed for a full year, but for the year 1977–78 it is proposed to print a total of 10¼ million at an estimated cost of £880,000. The estimated number of retirement pension order books issued annually is 30,200,000. Of these, 4,800,000 are printed and made up into order books at an estimated cost of £270,000. The balance are made up into books as required from pre-printed continuous stationery, the cost of which is estimated at £570,000.
§ Mr. Hal Millerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) who is entitled or required to apply for a card CF1 or its equivalent for the purpose of maintaining contribution records;
626W(2) what checks are made on the information provided by applicants for a card CFI or its equivalent (a) at the time of application, and (b) subsequently;
(3) whether employers or employees are responsible for the accuracy of the information contained in applications for the card CF1 or its equivalent; and what penalties are provided for giving false particulars;
(4) for what purposes a card CFI or its equivalent may be used or required other than for maintaining contribution records;
(5) how many cards CF1 or their equivalent have been issued in each of the last 10 calendar years.
§ Mr. OrmePeople over the age of 16 who are employed or self-employed earners or who wish to pay voluntary Class 3 contributions are required to apply for national insurance numbers unless numbers have already been allocated to them under special bulk arrangements made for school leavers.
National insurance cards, currently numbered CF1, to which national insurance stamps may be affixed, are issued to self-employed and voluntary contributors. Employed earners do not require national insurance cards since their earnings-related national insurance contributions are collected through the pay-as-you-earn system. All contributors, however, receive a separate card (CF 354 or RD3) notifying them of their national insurance number. None of these cards has any purpose other than in relation to social security.
A person making an individual application for a national insurance number is required to provide evidence as to his identity, normally in the form of a birth certificate or, if the person has come from abroad, a passport. No subsequent check is made for this purpose unless a doubt arises. Application forms are completed by the individual, not by employers. A person who knowingly makes any false statement or false representation or produced or furnishes any document which he knows to be false in a material particular is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than £400 or to imprisonment of not more than three months or both.
627WThe number of contribution cards issued in any year is not known. The number returned to the Department in years for which information is available is:
1970 … … 22,312,976 1971 … … 23,734,095 1972 … … 23,624,681 1973 … … 23,190,823 1974 … … 22,845,155 1975 … … 28,011,767 1976 … … 1,685,581 The figures for 1975 and 1976 reflect the changeover from April 1975 to use of the PAYE machinery for employed earners' contributions.
The number of new registrations, including school leavers, for national insurance in each of the last 10 years has been:
1967 … … … 899,108 1968 … … … 920,028 1969 … … … 920,858 1970 … … … 898,837 1971 … … … 917,352 1972 … … … 938,948 1973 … … … 679,252 1974 … … … 1,098,605 1975 … … … 1,159,355 1976 … … … 1,106,255 The figure for 1973 reflects the increase in the school leaving age.