§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give for each year since 1979 the total number of prosecutions initiated by the Department of Social Security against employers for failure to pay over national insurance contributions.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe Department uses both civil and criminal proceedings to recover national insurance contributions that have not been paid over by employers. The information requested is not available prior to 1983–84. The available information is as follows:
Civil proceedings Criminal proceedings 1983–84 2,080 1,971 1984–85 1,570 1,326 1985–86 1,259 13 1986–87 1,508 15 1987–88 1,254 10 1988–89 1,522 6 The reduction in criminal proceedings after 1984–85 resulted partly from the repeal of section 152(4) of the Social Security Act 1975.
§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give for each year since 1979 the total amount of unpaid national insurance contributions.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe information is as follows:
Year Amount £ 1979–80 8,659,576 1980–81 69,687,552 1981–82 30,402,682 1982–83 73,073,351 1983–84 83,505,000 1984–85 77,606,000 1985–86 94,325,000 1986–87 99,794,000 1987–88 94,952,000 Notes:
1. Prior to 1980–81, amounts of unpaid national insurance contributions transferred from Inland Revenue were recorded only when the Department had abandoned hopes of recovery. As a result, 434W a significant total debt accumulated, much of which was eventually abandoned. From 1980–81, it was decided to record as unpaid amounts transferred from Inland Revenue in the year the transfer took place. Outstanding sums transferred in earlier years amounting to £40,764,693 were therefore included in the figure shown for 1980–81.
2. The amount shown for 1981–82 was affected by industrial action.
§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give for each year since 1979(a) the total number of inquiries from local Department of Social Security offices to the contributions office in Newcastle and (b) the number of inquiries returned because they cannot be linked to any record of contributions.
§ Mr. Peter LloydRecords show that the number of inquiries to DSS Newcastle central office from all sources, including local offices of the Department, is as follows:
Number 1981–82 10,846,742 1982–83 24,542,960 1983–84 19,706,292 1984–85 18,384,182 1985–86 30,451,984 1986–87 37,465,803 1987–88 22,887,640 1988–89 23,254,859 No information is available for years before 1981–82.
Records are kept of the number of items which are rejected during computer processing, but records of the number of items rejected because no account has been traced are not maintained separately. For 1988–89 the overall total of rejected items was 721,960.
§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give for each year since 1979(a) the total number of claimants requesting that contributions are deemed paid under regulation 39 of the Social Security (Contributions) Regulations 1979 and (b) the number of such requests granted; and if he will also give these figures broken down according to type of benefit claimed.
§ Mr. Peter LloydNo record is kept of the number of claimants who request deeming of contributions under regulation 39 of the Social Security (Contributions) Regulations 1979. Regulation 39 is applied only where the secondary contributor is unable to pay arrears of contributions due. This usually happens when an employer is bankrupt or goes into liquidation. Where claimants to benefit find that their contribution record is deficient and report the fact that they have paid contributions to DSS, investigations are commenced to recover the moneys due. As benefit rights in respect of all such employees are protected records, the number of these reports is not maintained.