§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what current length of time is taken to process and issue juvenile national insurance numbers. [89875]
§ Dawn Primarolo[holding answer 5 July 1999]: Juveniles are registered for national insurance numbers by an automated process involving transfer of information from the Child Benefit computer to the National Insurance Recording System computer on magnetic tape. This is normally done at about the time a juvenile reaches the age of 15 years and 9 months and results in the automatic issue of a plastic national insurance number card.
The process to register juveniles for national insurance numbers is operating normally and there is no delay to customers. The process takes place over several days for each individual.
§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what guidance he has issued to(a) Benefits Agency staff handling juvenile Jobseeker's Allowance claims and (b) employers concerning the issuing of juvenile NI numbers. [89877]
§ Dawn Primarolo[holding answer 5 July 1999]: Information has been sent to Benefits Agency staff to make them aware that some school leavers will not have details of their national insurance numbers. Benefits Agency staff will have taken action to obtain the national insurance number for the young person. As a consequence, it has been possible for the Benefits Agency to process claims to Jobseeker's Allowance received from juveniles.
A national insurance number allows employers, who have young persons starting work, to send contribution information to the National Insurance Contributions Office for the correct record. A letter explaining the delay in issuing national insurance number plastic cards was sent to some employers in the week commencing 10 May 1999.
Employers requiring advice on how to obtain a national insurance number for an employee were asked in the letter to contact the existing employers Helpline. The Helpline provided details of how a written notification of the national insurance number could be obtained.
§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many(a) adult registrations and (b) juvenile registrations for national insurance numbers are currently outstanding; and how long it will take to clear the outstanding juvenile registrations. [89876]
§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many applications for a national insurance number have been delayed as a result of problems with NIRS2 computers. [91186]
§ Dawn Primarolo[holding answers 5 and 13 July 1999]: There is no delay in the processing of applications for adult registrations for national insurance numbers and there is no outstanding backlog.
The process to register and issue national insurance number cards for juveniles is now operating normally. However, a backlog of 300,000 juvenile registrations did accumulate in the period June 1998 to January 1999, when problems were experienced in implementing the appropriate NIRS2 software. This backlog was cleared by 329W 30 June 1999, with the exception of 17,000 cases where further essential identity inquiries are being made. It is expected that this backlog will be cleared by 30 August 1999.