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9 Jul 2003 : Column 877W—continued
Tax Credits
Mr. Dhanda: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many overpayments for new tax credits have been made; and how they will be retrieved by the Inland Revenue from (a) bank accounts and (b) other payment methods. [124515]
Dawn Primarolo: Where, during the year, more tax credit has been paid out than was due, the excess is recovered by adjusting payments for the rest of the year.
Entitlement to tax credits is finally settled at the end of the year. An overpayment identified at that point may be recovered by reducing the award for the following year, by adjusting a PAYE code or by direct payment. The Inland Revenue will issue a code of practice later this year setting out its approach to recovery of overpayments.
9 Jul 2003 : Column 878W
UK Mortgages
Mr. Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to influence the lending and borrowing decisions of (a) mortgage lenders and (b) borrowers in order to increase the proportion of mortgages with fixed rates. [121444]
Mr. Boateng: The Chancellor has asked David Miles, Professor of Finance at Imperial College, to undertake a review of the UK's fixed rate mortgage market to establish why the share of fixed-rate mortgages, particularly long-term fixed rates, is so low compared to the United States and many other EU countries.
Professor Miles will deliver an interim report by autumn and a comprehensive report and recommendations to the Chancellor by Budget 2004.
Working Tax Credit
Vera Baird: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many of those eligible for working tax credit in the Redcar constituency have applied for it; [121824]
- (2) how many claims for working tax credit submitted (a) before and (b) after the deadline are unpaid in the Redcar constituency; and when he expects all claims for working tax credit for the Redcar constituency to be dealt with. [121825]
Judy Mallaber: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many claims for working tax credit submitted in Amber Valley (a) before and (b) after the deadline are unpaid; and when he expects all claims to be dealt with; [122288]
- (2) how many of those eligible for working tax credit in Amber Valley have applied for it. [122291]
Dawn Primarolo: No breakdown of the number of claims received for the child and working tax credits is available below the national level. Statistics on awards of these tax credits will be published from August.
Claims for tax credits continue to arrive, and are processed as quickly as possible. Claims for which no further information is required, and which pass the various pre award checks, go through the stages of calculating the award quickly and will normally be in payment within a few days.