To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of people in Cambridgeshire and the UK who do not meet the required level to qualify for the basic state pension in each of the last 10 tax years have made voluntary Class 3 contributions.

Mr. Djanogly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what percentage of people in (a) Cambridgeshire and (b) the United Kingdom who have been informed that their National Insurance contributions do not meet the required level to qualify for the basic state pension in each of the last 10 tax years have made voluntary Class 3 National Insurance contributions up to the level required to qualify for the basic state pension; [156499]

(2) what percentage of people in (a) Cambridgeshire and (b) the United Kingdom who hold National Insurance numbers have made National Insurance contributions during each of the last 10 tax years. [156501]

Jane Kennedy [holding answer 8 October 2007]: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) maintains National Insurance records but does not hold the precise data requested by the hon. Member. In particular data is not held by county of residence.

Each year HMRC tells certain customers where their annual National Insurance contributions do not meet the qualifying level for basic state pension purposes for a tax year and how to pay the amount of voluntary contributions needed to make good the shortfall.

The following table gives detail for each year on a national basis.

	1996-97 to 2001-02 year breakdown not available	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Number of deficiency notices issued(1)	10,021,682	3,785,747	6,664,485	4,719,208
Number of receipts by end of March 2007 i.e. voluntary contributions made.	329,046	129,411	105,774	60,031
(1) The tax years shown are the years in which the shortfall occurred as opposed to the year in which the notice was issued.

The percentage of people with National Insurance numbers who make a contribution in any year is not available.

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