§ Mr. Rookerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr, Official Report, 25 November, column 415, regarding credits for national insurance purposes, there will be any difference in the method of obtaining such credits under the present national insurance scheme and the employers' statutory sick pay scheme;
(2) if, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr, Official Report, 25 November column 415, regarding credits for national insurance purposes, there will be any increase in the number of employees paying class 3 national insurance contributions under the employers' statutory sick pay scheme compared with the national insurance sickness benefit scheme.
§ Mr. RossiNew procedures are being devised to enable complete weeks of statutory sick pay to be identified when a contributor has a deficient record. We shall ensure that contributors are made aware that credits may be available for statutory sick pay periods and there is thus no reason to suppose that there will be any increase in the payment of class 3 contributions as a result of the new scheme.