National Insurance (Hansard, 10 June 2002)

§ Mr. Webb
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to his answer of 17 May 2002,Official Report, column 806W, on national insurance contributions, if he will calculate for married women paying NICs at the reduced rate, (a) the value of the total employee contributions which would be paid by such women if they were subject to full rate class I contributions instead, (b) the actual value of employee class 1 contributions payable by such women and (c) the value of entitlement to contributory benefits attained by such women, on the same basis as these calculations are made for the self-employed. [58518]

§ Dawn Primarolo
[holding answer 23 May 2002]: Estimates by the Government Actuary's Department, for married women paying at the reduced rate in 2001–02 are in the table.

Amount: £ million

The amount of primary class I contributions reduced rate women would pay if liable to full class 1 rate ¹75

Amount of primary contributions paid at the reduced class 1 rate ¹25

¹ Includes £8 million allocated to the national health service.

Married women who opt to pay the reduced rate do not receive contributory benefits in their own right, but can receive some benefits based on their husbands' contributions. Contributory benefits are financed on a pay-as-you-go basis, so it is not appropriate to quote a value for the total benefits foregone by married women paying at the reduced rate. This comparison is possible for the self-employed because the main element of the difference between the benefits they receive and those to which employees are entitled is SERPS (now state second pension) and the value of this is represented by the contracted-out rebate. No equivalent valuation, consistent 839W with the nature of the national insurance fund, is possible for the rights to basic retirement pension forgone by married women optants.

§ Mr. Salmond
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much he expects to raise from employers' national insurance contributions by nation and region of the UK for 2002–03. [59541]

§ Dawn Primarolo
The Government Actuary's Department estimate that around £38.5 billion will be received in 2002–03 in employer's national insurance contributions (including class 1A and 1B), this estimate is consistent with the April 2002 Budget.
A reliable estimate by nation and region is not available.

§ Mr. Weir
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the total amount paid by Scotland's(a) health trusts and (b) local authorities in employers' national insurance contributions in (1) 2001–02, (2) 2002–03 and (3) 2003–04, assuming current levels of employment. [60068]

§ Dawn Primarolo
It is estimated that the changes to employer NICs announced in the Budget will add around 0.7 per cent. to pay costs on average next year. The changes will help to fund improvement to public services and a real terms increase in spending on health over the next five years of over 40 per cent.
I regret that it would be possible to provide more detailed reliable estimates only at disproportionate cost.

§ Mr. Willetts
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what reasons the number of records on the National Insurance Recording System is lower than the number of national insurance numbers in existence. [58827]

§ Dawn Primarolo
There are approximately 83 million national insurance numbers held on the Departmental Central Index (DCI), against approximately 70 million records held on the National Insurance Recording System (NIRS).
DCI holds Child Reference Numbers of children under age 16 as well as national insurance numbers allocated to customers who are over retirement pension age. These records are not notified to NIRS, as there is no contribution activity.

§ David Hamilton
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much he expects to raise from national insurance contributions from employers for the years 2001 to 2004 in(a) Scotland, (b) Northern Ireland, (c) England and (d) Wales. [60310]

§ Dawn Primarolo
Estimates for employers' national insurance contributions (including class 1 A and 1B) are in the table. These estimates are consistent with the April 2002 Budget.

Employer NICs receipts (including class 1A and 1B)

Amount £ billion

2001–02 2002–03 2003–04

Great Britain 36.9 37.7 43.6

Northern Ireland 0.8 0.8 0.9

United Kingdom 37.6 38.5 44.5

840W
Reliable estimates for Scotland and Wales are not available.

§ Annabelle Ewing
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he has taking to ensure that there is parity of treatment between men and women in the application of the NIC rules. [60061]

§ Dawn Primarolo
Men and women pay national insurance contributions, on the same basis, on earnings from age 16 to pension age. Legislation has been introduced to fully equalise the pension age for men and women at age 65 from 2020.

§ David Hamilton
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much he expects to raise from national insurance contributions from employees for the years 2001 to 2004 in(a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Northern Ireland and (d) Wales. [60311]

§ Dawn Primarolo
Estimates for employees' national insurance contributions are in the table. These estimates are consistent with the April 2002 Budget.

Employee NICs receipts

Amount £ billion

2001–02 2002–03 2003–04

Great Britain 25.4 26.5 31.3

Northern Ireland 0.6 0.6 0.7

United Kingdom 26.0 27.1 32.0

Reliable estimates for Scotland and Wales are not available.

	Amount: £ million
The amount of primary class I contributions reduced rate women would pay if liable to full class 1 rate	¹75
Amount of primary contributions paid at the reduced class 1 rate	¹25
¹ Includes £8 million allocated to the national health service.

Employer NICs receipts (including class 1A and 1B)
Amount £ billion
	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04
Great Britain	36.9	37.7	43.6
Northern Ireland	0.8	0.8	0.9
United Kingdom	37.6	38.5	44.5

Employee NICs receipts
Amount £ billion
	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04
Great Britain	25.4	26.5	31.3
Northern Ireland	0.6	0.6	0.7
United Kingdom	26.0	27.1	32.0