Previous Section Index Home Page

27 Oct 2005 : Column 493W—continued

HM Revenue and Customs

Jim Cousins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the rate was of (a) early retirement and (b) resignation on grounds of stress and ill health in Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs in each of the last two years in each region and country of the UK; and what the rate was for staff working on tax credits. [19271]

Dawn Primarolo: The information is as follows:

(a) The rate of retirement on the grounds of ill health in HM Revenue and Customs in each of the last two financial years was:
In the former Inland Revenue

Rate per 1,000 staff
2003–042.3
2004–051.72

In the former Customs and Excise

Rate per 1,000 staff
2003–041.9
2004–052.2

Information on the percentage of these requirements due specifically to stress is not available.

(b) The rate of resignations on grounds of ill health in HM Revenue and Customs in each of the last two financial years was:
In the former Inland Revenue

Rate per 1,000 staff
2003–0428.8
2004–0533.9

In the former Customs and Excise

Rate per 1,000 staff
2003–200421.7
2004–200525.1

These figures have been derived from the HR records of the former Departments and from information supplied by BMI health services, (now Capita health services) who are the medical advisers to the principal civil service pension scheme. Information identifying stress and ill health by region and country and to staff working on tax credits could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
 
27 Oct 2005 : Column 494W
 

National Insurance/Income Tax

Dr. Kumar: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the merits of combining national insurance with income tax. [22069]

Dawn Primarolo: Tax and national insurance have different structures. Many of the differences between the two systems result from the fact that they serve different purposes. Income tax is designed to raise revenue for public spending while NICs are directly linked to entitlement to contributory benefits. Since Martin Taylor's report on work incentives in 1998, the Government have been pursuing a policy of alignment as far as is possible, for example replacing the multiple employer rates with a single rate of national insurance for employers, and aligning the starting point for paying both employers' and employees NICs with the income tax personal allowance. HMRC continues to work with employer representatives and others to look for opportunities to align the tax and NICs rules at a practical level, while having regard to the individuals' benefit entitlements.

National Minimum Wage

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people have been paid the minimum wage in each year since it was introduced. [21958]

Dawn Primarolo: The DTI estimates that 970,000 workers in Great Britain stood to benefit from the introduction of the national minimum wage in April 1999.

The DTI has estimated that 1.3 million workers would be covered by the October 2005 uprating of the national minimum wage.

Pensions

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assumptions about the reform of public sector pension scheme retirement ages are contained within existing public expenditure estimates; and if he will make a statement. [21461]

Mr. Des Browne: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave him on 25 October, Official Report, column 314W.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Eastleigh (Chris Huhne) of 13 October 2005, Official Report, column 417W, on self-invested pension plans, if he will make a statement on what would constitute abuse of the new rules. [19717]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Government keep all aspects of the tax system under review and as the Chief Secretary to the Treasury made clear, if there is any evidence of abuse in this area, we will take appropriate action to stop it.

Tax Credits

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what his latest estimate is of the value of tax credit overpayments written off from (a) 2003–04,
 
27 Oct 2005 : Column 495W
 
(b) 2004–05 and (c) 2005–06 to date as a result of (i) software errors, (ii) manual payments and (iii) official error; [19171]

(2) what his latest estimate is of the value of tax credit overpayments which have been written off by the Revenue in (a) 2003–04, (b) 2004–05 and (c) 2005–06 to date; and if he will make a statement; [19178]

(3) what his latest estimate is of the value of tax credit overpayments which have been written off by HM Revenue and Customs in (a) 2003–04, (b) 2004–05 and (c) 2005–06 to date; and if he will make a statement. [20690]

John Barrett: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what his latest estimate is for the value of tax credit overpayments written off in (a) 2003–04, (b) 2004–05 and (c) 2005–06 to date, broken down by those resulting from (i) software error and (ii) clerical error; [19745]

(2) what his latest estimate is of the value of tax credit overpayments which have been written off by HM Customs and Revenue in (a) 2003–04, (b) 2004–05 and (c) 2005–06 to date; and if he will make a statement. [19748]

Dawn Primarolo: For the value of tax credit overpayments written off as a result of software errors I refer the hon. Gentlemen to the answer I gave him on 4 July 2005, Official Report, column 101W.

For the amount written off in respect of manual payments in 2003–04, I refer the hon. Gentlemen to the Comptroller and Auditor General's Standard Report on the Accounts of the Inland Revenue for 2004–05. This is available on the internet at:

www.nao.org.uk

For amounts written off as a result of official error, I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave him on 10 October 2005, Official Report, column 282W.

HM Revenue and Customs wrote off around £71 million as official error relief from July 2005 to the end of September 2005.

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the recent changes to the tax credit computer system which provide information on processing errors with tax credit awards. [17285]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 13 October 2005]: The problems that occurred at the time tax credits were introduced have been addressed and the IT system is now stable and operating well in terms of speed and accessibility. Having established the integrity of the IT system and significantly improved its performance, the priority for HMRC must be to maintain that and make sure that further IT changes take place in an orderly way. Further improvements to the IT system remain a priority, however, and HMRC is working to create a more flexible IT system that will allow improvements to be made much more quickly.

HMRC are also working to improve their management information systems to help identify problems with the IT system earlier.
 
27 Oct 2005 : Column 496W
 

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer under what circumstances (a) a married couple and (b) an unmarried couple previously treated as a family for tax credit purposes is treated as separated for tax credit purposes; and if he will make a statement. [20019]

Dawn Primarolo: Information on how a family break up can affect tax credits awards is available in the changes section of the new tax credits manual which can be viewed on the HMRC website at:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/ntcmanual/index.htm

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the revenue yield would be of (a) abolishing the family element of child tax credit and (b) withdrawing the family element of child tax credit on family incomes of over £30,000. [20023]

Dawn Primarolo: The estimated reductions in expenditure as a result of these options, calculated for 2005–06, are:

These figures were calculated using the department's tax and benefit model (IGOTM) based on data from the Family Resources Survey 2003–04.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what proportion of child care tax credit claims have been (a) inaccurate and (b) fraudulent; [20150]

(2) how many fraudulent tax credit claims over £1,500 there were in (a) 2003–04 and (b) 2004–05; and if he will make a statement. [20151]

Dawn Primarolo: HMRC is carrying out a random inquiry programme of a representative sample of finalised claims across the tax credit population to measure the level of error and error in tax credits. Final results for the 2003–04 exercise will be published in spring 2006.


Next Section Index Home Page