---

Tax Credits

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many businesses have been given additional funding to ease cash flow difficulties caused by the payment of Working Families Tax Credit and Disabled Persons Tax Credit in each quarter. [159699]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 1 May 2001]: Employers whose prospective payments of tax credits in any period (up to six months) exceed the PAYE tax, national insurance contributions and student loan deductions they expect to deduct in the same period can apply for the additional funding required. The numbers of employers receiving funding in each quarter were as follows.

11 May 2001 : Column: 429W

Quarter	Number
April to June 2000	10,000
July to September 2000	20,000
October to December 2000	30,000
January to March 2001	30,000

Customs and Excise

Mr. Kilfoyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) when guidelines on the handling of informants were last revised; and what factors underlay the changes made; [160387]

(2) how much has been paid in total to informants in each of the last 10 years; and if he will list the number of payments made to informants within the ranges (a) £1,000-£9,000, (b) £10,000-£49,000, (c) £50,000-£99,000 and (d) £100,000 and over. [160371]

Dawn Primarolo: The guidelines for handling informants were last revised in October 2000 as a result of the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. It is not Customs' policy to disclose information about the amounts paid to informants on the ground that this could undermine the effectiveness of law enforcement.

Mr. Kilfoyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many Customs and Excise officers are suspended; and in which (a) divisions and (b) regions of Her Majesty's Customs and Excise they work; [160370]

(2) who is conducting the investigation into Peter Robinson; and if he will make a statement; [160385]

(3) how many Customs and Excise officers have been arrested in the last six years; how many of them have been charged; and with what offences. [160384]

Dawn Primarolo: Information relating to Customs officers who have been arrested is not held centrally. The other information sought by my hon. Friend cannot be provided, in accordance with exemptions 4 and 7 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Mr. Kilfoyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what investigations are planned into the activities of (a) John Haase, (b) Paul Bennett and (c) their handlers; [160386]

(2) when (a) Paul Bennett and (b) John Haase ceased to be registered informants; [160373]

(3) what reviews have been made of the convictions contingent upon the evidence of John Haase and Paul Bennett. [160388]

Dawn Primarolo: The persons named have not given evidence in any Customs prosecution. As a result of a joint customs/police investigation John Haase is now serving 13 years for his part in a conspiracy to supply drugs and guns. No further investigations are planned. It is not policy to confirm or deny whether any person is or has been an informant.

Drugs

Mr. Kilfoyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many cases involving the import of drugs were

11 May 2001 : Column: 430W

(a) successfully prosecuted, (b) summarily dismissed by the court and (c) unsuccessfully prosecuted in the last year. [160372]

Dawn Primarolo: Most recent available information is for the financial year 1999-2000. Customs successfully prosecuted 884 drugs cases. 29 cases were dismissed prior to a jury decision and 69 cases resulted in no conviction.

National Insurance

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in contracted out money purchase pension schemes are owed outstanding national insurance contribution rebates; how much these rebates are worth in total; and when the Government expect to have paid the outstanding rebates. [160228]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 3 May 2001]: There are approximately 2,800 people in contracted out money purchase schemes owed NI rebates for 1999-2000. The rebates are worth approximately £700K. We will pay the rebates when we receive and process a correctly completed end of year return from the employer.

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much compensation the Government expect to pay out in the current financial year to people who are owed national insurance contribution rebates. [160226]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 3 May 2001]: The estimated compensation costs for 2001-02 cannot yet be quantified.

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people with personal pensions are owed outstanding national insurance contribution payments; how much these rebates are worth in total; and when the Government expect to have paid the outstanding rebates. [160227]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 3 May 2001]: There are approximately 67,000 people with personal pensions owed NI rebates for 1999-2000. The rebates are worth approximately £29.1 million. We will pay the rebates when we receive and process a correctly completed end of year return from the employer.

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people have received outstanding national insurance contribution rebates; what is the average length of time people have had to wait to receive outstanding rebates; and what the average compensation paid to people owed outstanding rebates is. [160229]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 3 May 2001]: For the 1999-2000 tax year, it is estimated that approximately 4.5 million people have received a NI rebate. There is no estimate of the average length of time people have had to wait or of the average compensation paid.

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many married women who previously chose to pay reduced national insurance contributions have opted to pay the full contributions in each year since 1997; and how much last year's information campaign aimed at these women cost. [160232]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 3 May 2001]: An estimate of the number of women opting to pay full-rate

11 May 2001 : Column: 431W

contributions in the years identified, based on a 3 per cent. sample of our records is:

	Number
6 April 1997 to 5 April 1998	17,200
6 April 1998 to 5 April 1999	14,700
6 April 1999 to 5 April 2000	4,800
6 April 2000 to 5 April 2001	3,300

The Mailshot and publicity prompted a number of women to request state retirement pension forecasts. We dealt with 35,314 requests between 2 October 2000 and 5 March 2001. As of 5 March 2001, we have issued 20,959 actual forecasts.

The cost of the campaign was approximately £32,000.

Pensioners

Mr. Harvey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to monitor the take-up of age-related personal allowances by pensioners completing the latest self assessment forms. [160248]

Dawn Primarolo: The Inland Revenue asks taxpayers to state their date of birth on the self assessment form. The age related personal allowance will then be given depending on their income.

Tax Returns

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many individual taxpayers who file self-assessment tax returns have registered for the Inland Revenue service for filing tax returns on the internet in each month since the service became available; and if he will make a statement. [160118]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 3 May 2001]: Since the registration service became available on 3 April 2000, 134,550 individual taxpayers who file self assessment tax returns have registered for the Inland Revenue service for filing tax returns over the internet. The numbers of registrations in each month were given in my answer to the hon. Member on 18 July 2000, Official Report, column 110W. The updated figures are as follows:

Month	Registrations	Cumulative total
August 2000	11,700	81,894
September 2000	16,557	98,451
October 2000	2,736	101,187
November 2000	1,697	102,884
December 2000	2,902	105,786
January 2001	14,162	119,948
February 2001	595	120,543
March 2001	522	121,065
April 2001	13,485	134,550

Mr. Matthew Taylor: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many individual taxpayers who file self- assessment tax returns and have registered for the Inland Revenue service for filing tax returns on the internet have submitted their tax returns using the internet-based service in each month since the service became available; and if he will make a statement. [160117]

11 May 2001 : Column: 432W

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 3 May 2001]: Since the facility to submit tax returns over the internet became available on 3 July 2000, 40,299 tax returns have been received over the internet from individual taxpayers who file self assessment tax returns. The number of submissions in each month were as follows:

Month	Returns submitted	Cumulative total
2000
July	7,321	7,321
August	6,630	13,951
September	9,419	23,370
October	2,544	25,914
November	1,165	27,079
December	1,412	28,491
2001
January	9,694	38,185
February	973	39,158
March	122	39,280
April	1,019	40,299

---