National Insurance Numbers (Hansard, 29 March 1999)

§ Mr. Field
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how long it will take under the proposals in paragraph 3.18 of Safeguarding Social Security to check the integrity of all National Insurance numbers. [79222]

§ Mr. Timms
There are two proposals in paragraph 3.18. The first will involve the checking of 1.8 million individual payroll items against the Departmental Central Index by April 2000.
The second is about more active management of dormant National Insurance accounts. This would of necessity be a continuing activity because the status of accounts change over time.

§ Mr. Field
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what proprietorial checks have been carried out on existing staff involved in the issue of national insurance numbers; [79307]
(2) what reforms have been set in hand to unify the responsibility of staff for the issue of national insurance numbers as described in paragraph 2.10 of Safeguarding Social Security; and if he will make a statement; [79221]
(3) what checks are in place for the recruitment of new staff involved in the issuing of national insurance numbers. [79223]

§ Mr. Timms
We undertake a range of rigorous recruitment checks which follow Cabinet Office guidelines on all staff prior to employment. All existing Departmental staff are bound by strict rules on propriety which cover, for example, possible conflicts of interest.
We have recently reviewed all of our recruitment and proprietorial checks and found them to be generally sound. However, we are currently undertaking a risk assessment of posts across the Department (including posts involving the allocation of National Insurance numbers) to determine those that are particularly sensitive and may require further checks. In addition, we are already implementing a number of improvements, including even tougher employment checks for new staff, new mandatory management checks to ensure the correct procedures are fully complied with. To provide a further level of assurance our internal audit will carry out their own checks.
Measures have been put in place to strengthen the security and control of National Insurance numbers. To improve management control, the number of staff who can issue National Insurance numbers has been reduced by two thirds from 1,500 to 500. We have also introduced an approvals system whereby all new staff have to be approved by a designated manager.