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6 Jul 2005 : Column 435W—continued

Ryscar House, Blackpool

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the likely effects of the closure of Ryscar House, Blackpool will have on the number and accuracy of working tax and child tax credit awards. [8498]

Mr. Hancock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what assessment has been made of the impact on (a) costs and (b) service to the public, of the closure of Ryscar House, Blackpool; [9170]

(2) if he will make it his policy to reverse the decision to close Ryscar House, Blackpool; [9171]

(3) what assessment he has made of the number of staff at Ryscar House who will opt for redundancy rather than moving to another part of the country as a result of the planned closure; what assessment he has made of the likely effects on benefit claimants; and if he will make a statement; [9172]

(4) if he will make available to trade unions the business case for the closure of Ryscar House, Blackpool. [9173]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 30 June 2005]: No decision has been taken to close the HM Revenue and Customs office at Ryscar House.
 
6 Jul 2005 : Column 436W
 

HMRC is preparing business plans to meet its efficiency savings for 2005–08, but no decision have yet been made in this process. It is therefore too early to say how any particular office might be affected. All proposals that are drawn up as part of this work will be subject to a comprehensive social, economic and service delivery impact assessment.

HMRC is committed to good industrial relations. It has established a programme of regular consultations with the trade unions to discuss major changes across the Department's businesses.

Tax Avoidance Schemes

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will introduce legislation to ban accountancy, law and other firms from charging contingency fees for selling tax avoidance schemes. [9405]

Dawn Primarolo: The Government are committed to protecting the tax system against tax avoidance. Since 1997 the Government have taken a series of steps to prevent abuse of the tax system through structural reforms that made the system less vulnerable, closing loopholes in the law and improving the way that HM Revenue and Customs delivers its compliance function. In his 2004 Budget Statement, the Chancellor announced the introduction of disclosure rules for direct tax and VAT, to require notification of avoidance schemes. Contingency fees are one of the features of both direct tax and VAT avoidance that can trigger a disclosure requirement.

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will investigate the role of KPMG, PwC, Ernst and Young and Deloitte in devising and selling tax avoidance schemes. [9407]

Dawn Primarolo: As part of the Government's commitment to protect the tax system against tax avoidance, the Chancellor announced the introduction of disclosure rules for direct tax in his 2004 Budget Statement. These rules require all promoters to disclose certain tax avoidance schemes to HMRC. HMRC reviews each scheme.

Mr. Austin Mitchell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will introduce a general anti-avoidance rule to curb tax avoidance. [9409]

Dawn Primarolo: In his 2004 Budget Statement, the Chancellor announced that he did not intend to introduce a general anti-avoidance rule at this stage. The Government continue to keep under review a range of options to deter non-compliance and encourage voluntary compliance, ensuring fairness of the tax system.

Tax Credits

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people are employed in HM Revenue and Customs to handle (a) tax credit complaints, (b) telephone calls about tax credits and (c) compensation for HM Revenue and Custom's errors relating to tax credits; and if he will make a statement. [8566]

 
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Dawn Primarolo: At 28 May 2005 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) had nearly 400 full-time equivalent staff working in the Tax Credit Office handling tax credit complaints. These staff also deal with compensation in accordance with complaints and redress procedures explained in the Department's code of practice 1: Putting things right".

The number of full-time equivalent staff employed to work on dedicated tax credits helplines at 28 May 2005 was around 3,200. In addition, HMRC can use another 500 staff to answer tax credit calls at peak times.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1)what proportion of tax credit appeals against overpayment have been upheld to date; and if he will make a statement; [8577]

(2) how many appeals against overpaid tax credits have been received by HM Revenue and Customs for each quarter since 2003 Q1; and if he will make a statement. [8582]

Dawn Primarolo: Taxpayers have a right of appeal against decisions about their tax credit entitlement and they are able to pursue with HMRC any disagreement concerning the recovery of an overpayment.

The Department's code of practice 26, What happens if we have paid you too much tax credit?' describes their approach to overpayments and is available on the internet at: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/cop26.pdf

The code explains that the Department will not expect customers to pay back an overpayment if it arose because of their mistake and the customer could reasonably have thought their award was correct.

To 31 May 2005 the Tax Credit Office had dealt with around 151,000 disputed overpayment requests and written off the overpayment in around 36,000 cases (approximately 24 per cent.).

The Department began recording intake of disputed overpayment requests in May 2004. Intake each quarter from May 2004 is as follows:

Quarter	Disputes received
April to June 2004	14,000
July to September 2004	54,000
October to December 2004	63,000
January to March 2005	84,000
April to 31 May 2005	56,000

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he received from the (a) Inland Revenue and (b) external IT suppliers about the timescale for the introduction of the new tax credits prior to April 2003; and if he will make a statement. [8599]

Dawn Primarolo: The development of Government policy on tax credits involved extensive discussions between Treasury Ministers and Inland Revenue Officials. I am not aware that Ministers received representations directly from external IT suppliers.
 
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Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1)how many people had in-year recovery of excess tax credits in (a) 2003–04 and (b) 2004–05; and what the total value of excess payments was in each year; [8813]

(2) what his estimate is of the number of excess payments of tax credit in the 2003–04 year which had been recovered by the end of the financial year; and if he will make a statement. [9248]

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answers I gave him on 4 July 2005, Official Report, column 98W (8580) and column 102W (8022).

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the statement of 22 June 2005, Official Report, columns 801–14, by the Paymaster General, on tax credits, whether he has accepted in full the recommendations in paragraph (a) 5.41, (b) 5.51, (c) 5.65 and (d) 7.14 of the Parliamentary Ombudsman's report. [8021]

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the written statement I made in the House on 26 May 2005, Official Report, columns 22–23WA and the oral statement I made to the House on 22 June 2005, Official Report, columns 801–14.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the statement of 22 June 2005, Official Report, columns 801–14, by the Paymaster General, on tax credits, whether changes to the tax credit IT system are required to ensure that an in-year excess tax credit payment that is recoverable in accordance with COP 26 will be recovered at the same rate as those for previous year overpayments. [8024]

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the statement I made to the House on 26 May 2005, Official Report, column 22WS.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the statement of 22 June 2005, Official Report, columns 801–14, by the Paymaster General, on tax credits, whether changes to the tax credit IT system are required in order to comply with the recommendation in paragraph 5.17 of the Parliamentary Ombudsman's report; and whether he accepts the recommendation. [8025]

Dawn Primarolo: I refer the hon. Member to the statement I made on 26 May 2005, Official Report, column 22WS.

HMRC will urgently ensure that in cases of genuine hardship where the recovery of an overpayment is disputed, recovery can be suspended while the dispute is resolved.

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