To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire (Mr. Heald) of 19 March 2007, Official Report, column 641W, on national insurance, how many national insurance numbers (a) are allocated to adults not resident in the UK and (b) have been allocated to 16-year-olds since 2001. (131691)

[holding answer 16 April 2007]: Information is not available as to how many national insurance numbers are in issue to adults not resident in the UK.

Information regarding the number of national insurance numbers allocated to 16-year-olds is not available in the format requested.

The vast majority of national insurance numbers are issued to people at the age of 15 years and 9 months under the Juvenile Registration Process. The available information is that between January 2004 and March 2007, 2,604,757 national insurance numbers were issued under the Juvenile Registration Process.