§ Mr. Maxwell-Hyslopasked the Secretary of State for Social Services why, in the light of the fact that one question, 490W No. 6, is inapplicable to the self-employed, the application form FIS 1 November for family income supplement specifically stated that every question must be answered.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThe form asks for every question to be answered simply to avoid the common situation of a question remaining ambiguously unanswered. In these cases the form has to be returned for clarification to the claimant, causing unnecessary trouble and delay to the claimant and adding to administrative costs.
Question 6 on the FIS claim form asks "How many hours a week do you work for an employer?"—to which the self-employed person would normally answer "None", unless, of course, he is concurrently working for an employer. The next question, No. 7, asks "How many hours a week are you self-employed?".