To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to align the tax and national insurance treatment of construction workers who provide their services through an agency. [12272]

The exemption for construction workers from the agency tax rules will be removed with effect from 6 April 1998. So agencies that supply workers to the construction industry will, subject to the conditions set out in these rules, be required to operate pay-as-you-earn on payments to construction workers in the same way as other agency workers. Agencies are, of course, already obliged to account for employer and employees class 1 national insurance contributions, provided the relevant conditions are satisfied.