§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he is proposing to vary the employment protection allocation of employers' class 1 national insurance contributions to correct the imbalance of the redundancy fund and the maternity pay fund.
§ Mr. WaddingtonMy right hon. Friend has no plans to do so.
§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he proposes any changes other than that contained in the Employment Protection (Variation of Limits (No. 2)) Order 1982 in the redundancy payments scheme to affect the income and outgoings of the redundancy fund to ensure that it is kept within the limits prescribed by the statutes.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe income to the redundancy fund for the financial year 1983–84 will be cut by a reduction in the employees' primary class I contribution from 0.35 per cent. to 0.25 per cent. Provision for this is made in the Social Security (Contributions, Rerating) Order 1982.
No other changes are proposed.
§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if the redundancy fund is at present overdrawn; and, if so, what steps he proposes to take to bring it back into balance.
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§ Mr. WaddingtonThe deficit in the redundancy fund is currently £225.8 million, and is being gradually reduced by repayments to the national loans fund.
§ Mr. Harold Walkerasked the Secretary of State for Employment if the limit on the borrowing power set by the Redundancy Fund Act 1981 has been exhausted; and if he will be seeking a further extension of the borrowing power in order to finance the outgoings from the fund.
§ Mr. WaddingtonThe Redundancy Fund Act 1981 raised the borrowing limit to £200 million, which could be raised again by order to £300 million. This £300 million limit was introduced by the Redundancy Fund (Advances out of the National Loans Fund) Order 1981—SI 1981 No. 1744—and has not been exceeded.
We have no plans to seek an extension of the borrowing power and no such extension is necessary to finance outgoings from the fund.