asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what percentage of total disbursements financed by national insurance contributions have been in respect of benefits or parts of benefits to which self-employed contributors are not entitled, expressed as an average over the last five years, 1970 to 1974.

The following table gives the cost of benefits over the last five years showing separately the cost of those benefits or parts of benefits not normally payable to the self-employed. The latter are unemployment benefit, earnings-related supplements to sickness benefit and widow's allowance, graduated retirement benefit and industrial injuries benefits. The cost of the latter benefits amounts to a little under 12·5 per cent. of total benefit expenditure over the last five years or 10·6 per cent. over the last financial year.