§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what proportion of national insurance contributions collected from employers is the responsibility of his Department; and how much that amounted to in the last available year broken down by each class of contributions.
§ Mrs. Gillian ShephardThe Inland Revenue is mainly responsible for the collection of class 1 national insurance contributions. The Department of Social Security assumes responsibility for collection in certain limited circumstances and collects such contributions direct in certain instances—for example in respect of Civil Service and Her Majesty's forces employments.
The Department also makes claims against insolvent employers. For the year ended April 1989 the Department collected about £1.5 billion in this way which represents about 5 per cent. of the total of class 1 national insurance contributions.