Mr. Ted Fletcherasked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will make a statement relating to the future of the maternity pay fund in the light of the recent diversion of income from maternity pay fund to the redundancy fund.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe division of the employment protection allocation of employers' national insurance contributions between the two funds is purely administrative, and I have power to alter the proportions directed to each fund according to their respective needs at the time. The diversion of income into the redundancy fund is a temporary measure only, and it does not change in any way the level of maternity payments made to individual employees and the rebates paid to employers. The balance in the maternity pay fund is being monitored to ensure that all demands on it will be fully met.