§ Sir Brandon Rhys Williamsasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is his estimate of the amount by which national insurance contributions, including employers' surcharge, during 1980–81 and 1981–82 will exceed or fall 558W short of the cost of national insurance benefits paid during the same period; and if he will publish comparable figures for each of the past three years.
§ Mr. PrenticeThe national insurance surcharge does not form part of the income of the National Insurance Fund and is paid separately into the Consolidated Fund.
The Government Actuary's report on the Contributions Re-rating Order 1979 (Cmnd. 7771) estimated that there would be surpluses on the national insurance fund of £349 million in 1979–80 and £46 million in 1980–81. These estimates will be reviewed in his report on the benefits uprating order 1980 to be presented to Parliament before the Summer Recess but no estimate for 1981–82 will be made until the report on the 1980 contributions re-rating order due at the end of the year.
The surpluses for 1976–77, 1977–78 and 1978–79 were £928 million, £678 million and £265 million, respectively.