National Insurance Contributions (Rate Ceilings) Bill (First sitting)

Philip Boswell Excerpts

Tuesday 27th October 2015 Public Bill Committees

[Philip Boswell (Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) (SNP)]

Q 9 I was wondering what the process is for determining the 16.7% threshold and when was the last review.

John Whiting: The honest answer to that is I do not know. I am afraid I have to say, again, I am not an actuary. It is the figure that I believe has been set for a while as a prudent level of funding, but it is for the actuaries to determine. As far as I am aware, the Government Actuary looks at the funding of the national insurance fund annually and makes appropriate recommendations.

[Rebecca Long Bailey]

Q 10 Are you aware of what steps the Government have put in place to reverse or amend this legislation in the future, and do you believe that there are any specific triggers that should lead to its suspension?

John Whiting: I have no knowledge of any plans the Government have to reverse this legislation, nor should I. As I read it—and I come back to the job that I have in hand, which is to look at alignment of income tax and national insurance—clearly, the areas that we are looking at could produce recommendations to make some structural changes to national insurance. Those recommendations would go to the Chancellor and Treasury Ministers, and it would then be up to them to consider them and to bring them forward. They would come before Parliament in the normal way and would no doubt lead to a full debate. Could that lead to an amendment to the Bill? I presume that it could, but that is for Parliament to decide. What I would stress is that our recommendations will no doubt be subject to an awful lot of scrutiny and debate. If we come up with recommendations, they will be long-term and it would be highly appropriate to have a full debate on them.