Written question asked by Lord Field of Birkenhead (Labour) on Wednesday, 1 May 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 15 May 2002. It was answered by Baroness Primarolo (Labour) on Wednesday, 15 May 2002 on behalf of the Treasury.

Treasury

Question: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many records of individuals were stored in the national insurance record system as at 31st December 2001; how many of these records concerned individuals who are known to be deceased; and in how many of these records there has been no contributions activity since 1st January 2001. - Including figures.

Answer: Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many records of individuals were stored in the national insurance record system as at 31 December 2001; how many of these records concerned individuals who are known to be deceased; and in how many of these records there has been no contributions activity since 1 January 2001. [54723] Dawn Primarolo: On the basis of information held, the position is that 69,852,367 individual records were stored in the national insurance record system at 31 December 2001. 5,987,933 of those concerned individuals who are known to be deceased. Records are retained beyond death because of potential and ongoing claims by dependent spouse. There has been no contributions activity on 5,784,733 of these records since 1 January 2001.

Secondary information