§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what proportion of social security contributions collected by his Department have emanated from payments made from United Kingdom citizens resident or working in the United States of America during the last five years.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe information requested is not available. For those employees who go to the United States of America to work for an employer who has a place of business in the United Kingdom, normal class 1 contributions are payable for the first 52 weeks abroad. These are recorded in the same way as for employees working in the United Kingdom and no separate record is kept.
For those who pay voluntary contributions, either through an agent in the United Kingdom or by annual payment, the amount recorded is the total received each year in respect of persons abroad. For those who pay by direct debit, the total amount recorded covers people who live in the United Kingdom as well as those living abroad who use this method to pay their contributions.