To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what action is required to establish that an applicant for a national insurance number is properly resident in the United Kingdom and is so entitled; and if he will make a statement on the enforcement of these conditions.

On receipt of an application for a national insurance number we require acceptable and verifiable evidence of identification. This could include a birth certificate, a passport or a Home Office immigration form. The Home Office is informed in any case where a passport indicates that there is a restriction on taking up employment in the United Kingdom or where there is a limit on length of stay which has expired, or is about to expire.Questions on residence are matters for my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for the Home Department.