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19 Oct 2004 : Column 586W—continued

Private Medical Insurance

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the percentage of people in the South East Government Office region who have private medical insurance cover. [191044]

Mr. Hutton: I have been asked to reply.

No estimate has been made of the percentage of people in the South East who have private medical insurance cover.

Tax Credits/Overpayments

Mr. Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether arrangements in place for avoiding hardship in recovering tax credit overpayments dating back two years or more will continue. [192184]

Dawn Primarolo: The Inland Revenue's Code of Practice 26 "What happens if we have paid you too much tax credit?" sets out the Inland Revenue's approach to tax credits overpayments and the maximum amounts by which current year payments will be reduced to recover overpaid tax credits from one or more previous years. Where payments are not continuing, overpaid tax credits may be repaid over 12 months.

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures he is taking to deal with the backlog in working tax credit overpayment referrals; and if he will make a statement. [191297]

Dawn Primarolo: The Tax Credit Office examines each case where an overpayment has been consistent with code of Practice 26, "What Happens if We Have Paid You Too Much Tax Credit?". Code of Practice 26 can be found on the Inland Revenue website. The Tax Credit Office continually reviews its procedures with a view to minimizing turnaround times.

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to improve the working tax credit administrative system to reduce the number of overpayments. [191298]

Dawn Primarolo: The tax credits system is designed to be flexible: claimants' payments can be adjusted in year if their circumstances or income change.

The Inland Revenue's Code of Practice 26, "What Happens if We Have Paid You Too Much Tax Credit?", sets out the Inland Revenue's approach to tax credits overpayments.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people are receiving tax credits in Yeovil constituency; and if he will make a statement. [191782]

Mrs. May: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families living in the Maidenhead constituency are (a) eligible for and (b) in receipt of (i) working tax credit, (ii) the child care element of working tax credit and (iii) child tax credit. [191338]

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Members to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Wansdyke (Dan Norris) on 12 July 2004, Official Report, columns 922–23W.

No estimates of the numbers benefiting from the child care element are available at local authority level.
 
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Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what his estimate is of the numbers of families who were entitled to the child tax credit but did not receive it in (a) 2002–03 and (b) 2003–04; and if he will make a statement; [191783]

(2) how many households received (a) working tax credit and (b) child tax credit in (i) 2002, (ii) 2003 and (iii) 2004. [191804]

Dawn Primarolo: The child and working tax credits have been available from 2003–04. Estimates of the number of recipients are shown in the various issues of "Child and Working Tax Credits. Quarterly Statistics", which can be found on the Inland Revenue website at: www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/menu.htm

No estimate of the number of families eligible for but not claiming child tax credit will be available until household survey data for 2003–04 have been analysed.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the number of overpayments of tax credits exceeding (a) £250 per year, (b) £500 per year, (c) £1,000 per year, (d) £2,000 per year and (e) £5,000 per year for (i) 2002–03 and (ii) 2003–04; and if he will make a statement. [191785]

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to my answer to the hon. Member for Isle of Wight (Mr. Turner) on 11 October 2004, Official Report, columns 81–82W.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his assessment is of the reasons for the overpayment of tax credits in 2003–04; and if he will make a statement. [191786]

Dawn Primarolo: The Inland Revenue's Code of Practice 26, "What Happens if We Have Paid You Too Much Tax Credit?", sets out the Inland Revenue's approach to tax credits overpayments.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer for what reasons the tax credit system provides for no minimum protected level of tax credit payment, where overpayments from previous years have to be recovered; and if he will make a statement. [191787]

Dawn Primarolo: The Inland Revenue's Code of Practice 26, "What Happens if We Have Paid You Too Much Tax Credit?", sets out the Inland Revenue's approach to tax credits overpayments and the maximum amounts by which current year payments will be reduced, depending on the size of the award, to recover overpaid tax credits from the previous year.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what his estimate is of the number of tax credit awards made since 2002 which have contained errors due to the misreading of the completed claims forms by Inland Revenue computers; and if he will make a statement; [191788]

(2) what his estimate is of the number of Inland Revenue errors leading to inaccurate tax credit awards for 2003–04; and if he will make a statement; [191789]

(3) what his estimate is of the error rate for tax credit awards for (a) 2002–03, (b) 2003–04 and (c) 2004–05; and if he will make a statement. [191790]

 
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Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb) on 22 March 2004, Official Report, column 666W.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to waive the first £1,000 of overpayments of tax credits for 2003–04 and 2004–05; and if he will make a statement. [191791]

Dawn Primarolo: The Inland Revenue's Code of Practice 26, "What Happens if We Have Paid You Too Much Tax Credit?", sets out the Inland Revenue's approach to tax credits overpayments.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many tax credit claim forms TC846 have been (a) printed and (b) distributed in (i) 2003–04 and (ii) 2004–05 to date; whether shortages of these forms have arisen; and if he will make a statement. [191805]

Dawn Primarolo: Tax credit claimants can download this form from the Inland Revenue's website, or request it from the Tax Credits Helpline. Information on the number of forms printed or distributed is not readily available. However, there have been no shortages of these forms.

Tax Policy Staff

Mr. Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the total number of staff is with responsibility for tax policy, development and maintenance in Her Majesty's Treasury; [191490]

(2) what the total administration cost was for the development and maintenance of tax policy in Her Majesty's Treasury in 2003–04; [191491]

(3) what the total employment costs were for personnel involved in the development and maintenance of tax policy in Her Majesty's Treasury in 2003–04. [191492]

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Gentleman to my statement on 11 October 2004, Official Report, column 1WS, and to Schedule 5 of the HM Treasury Resource Accounts 2003–04 (HC 920), a copy of which can be found in the Library.

Ms Buck: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of parents in (a) London and (b) the UK are (i) eligible for and (ii) receiving the child care element of the working tax credit. [192091]

Mrs. Humble: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of parents in Blackpool, North and Fleetwood are (a) eligible for and (b) receiving the child care element of the working tax credit. [192508]

Dawn Primarolo: For each region, the latest number of families receiving child benefit is shown in "Child Benefit Statistics. Geographical analyses. November 2003"; and the number benefiting from the child care element is shown in "Child and Working Tax Credits. Quarterly Statistics" for each quarter up to April 2004. These documents appear on the Inland Revenue website, www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/stats at the pages/personal-tax-credits/menu.htm and /child benefit/menu.htm, respectively.

No estimates are available of these numbers below the regional level, nor of the number of families eligible to benefit from the child care element.
 
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Mr. Challen: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people classed as disabled have claimed working tax credit in (a) Morley and Rothwell and (b) England; and what the average claim was in each case. [192515]

Dawn Primarolo: The number of families in England benefiting from the disabled worker element of working tax credit is shown at Table 8.3 in the various issues of "Child and Working Tax Credits Quarterly Statistics". These can be found on the Inland Revenue website at www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/menu.htm.

The number of cases in the sample used to compile these figures is insufficient to provide reliable estimates for each constituency.

The value of the element was £2,040 per disabled worker in 2003–04 and is £2,100 in 2004–05. Most benefiting families will benefit from the element by the full amount for the period for which it satisfies the qualifying conditions for the element.

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