§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if the reduction in the employment protection element of employers' national insurance contribution is to be a substitute for an increase of redundancy rebates or if he intends to introduce an order to increase rebates during the current Session of Parliament.
§ Mr. Jim Lester[pursuant to his reply, 3 December 1979, c. 25]: The question of increasing the rate of redundancy rebate is still under consideration.
§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment how the reduction in the employment protection element of employers' national insurance contribution is to be apportioned between the redundancy fund and the maternity pay fund; and what is the current surplus or deficit in the maternity pay fund.
§ Mr. Jim Lester[pursuant to his reply, 3 December 1979, c. 25]: The reduction in the employment protection allocation has been made with a view to reducing the rate of growth in the surplus in the redundancy fund, and will be wholly set against the redundancy portion of the allocation.
The maternity pay fund is currently in surplus in the sum of £34,268,097.
§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if, in view of his declared intention to reduce the employment protection element of employers' national insurance contributions, he will now revise the forecasts of the levels of surplus in the redundancy fund given in his written reply of Monday 5 November.
§ Mr. Jim Lester[pursuant to his reply, 3 December 1979, c. 25]: If the level of rebate and the number of redundancies remain unchanged, the effect of the reduction in the employment protection allocation will be to reduce the estimated surplus in the redundancy fund at 31 March 1981 to £167 million.