National Insurance Numbers

Mr. Ruffley
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) new national insurance numbers were registered and (b) new workers there were in the UK in 2005-06; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Plaskitt
There were 1,486,312 National Insurance numbers issued in 2005. There have been 1,369,652 National Insurance numbers issued up to 31 October 2006.

The number of National Insurance numbers issued includes the following:

1. children who reach 16 years of age (the juvenile registration process);

2. UK adults who missed out on the juvenile registration process and;

3. foreign nationals who enter the UK and require a NINO for benefit, tax credit or employment purposes (adult NINO allocation process). Possession of a NINO does not in itself give any automatic right to benefit, tax credits or employment. Any claims to benefit or tax credits would be subject to normal entitlement rules.

The latest data available from the Labour Force Survey estimates that the number of people in employment has increased from 28.79 million to 28.99 million, an increase of around 192,000 over the last year.

Note:

Data compares July-September 2006 and July-September 2005.

Source:

Labour Market Statistics First Release, November 2006.