Member

At present, as I understand it, there is still an exemption on NI contributions for veterans in their first job after they have left the Armed Forces. If I am indeed correct in that, can the Minister explain to the Committee how that is going to be dealt with in the current changes to the legislation? Will that simply be abolished by this general increase in national insurance contributions? In short, I should like at least to do what I have done, which is to raise the importance of supporting veterans back into employment. An attack on jobs through an increase in national insurance contributions is a general problem, but it is a particular problem for getting veterans back into employment. Specifically, is the NI contribution exemption for the first year still going to be in place under the Government’s new legislation?