asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is her estimate of the loss in contributions from self-employed persons to the Newcastle-upon-Tyne provides a BSC in of persons who would have their contributions reduced if class 2 contributions were treated as advance payments of a class 4 contribution defined as 8 per cent. of earnings between the lower limit for class 2 contributions and £3,600 a year.
, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 22 January 1975; Vol. 884, c. 393], circulated the following information:If there were liability to an earnings-related contribution of 8 per cent. of earnings between £675 and £3,600 a year and the class 2 contribution were treated as a provisional payment on this account, with a right to refund when the liability turned out to be less than £2·41 a week, about 1½ million people would pay lower contributions and the loss of contribution income would be of the order of £90 million a year. Such a system would, however, be impracticable as well as inconsistent with the treatment of employed earners whose contributions are assessed on all earnings up to the maximum, and not just on those above the threshold. If there were no refunds of the class 2 contribution, about 1 million people would pay lower contributions and the
| Financial Year | Medical Research Council (MRC)* | United Kingdom contribution to International Agency for Research on Cancer (through MRC)* | Health and Hospital Authorities, excluding equipment | ||||
| £million | £000 | £000 | |||||
| 1971–72 | … | … | … | … | 2·546 | 100·5 | 309 |
| 1972–73 | … | … | … | … | 2·929 | 105 | 401 |
| 1973–74 | … | … | … | … | 3·737 | 100 | 606 |
| * Funded from my Department's Science Budget. | |||||||