| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
2 Nov 2005 : Column 1052W—continued
Debt Counselling
Dr. Cable: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) discussions he has had with and (b) representations he has received from debt counselling services since 1997; and if he will make a statement. [24298]
2 Nov 2005 : Column 1053W
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Department for Trade and Industry coordinates the Government's work on consumer credit and tackling over-indebtedness. Ministers in that Department have engaged with a wide variety of stakeholders on this issue.
Employment Figures
Vera Baird: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) men and (b) women aged over 65 years (i) started a job with a new employer, (ii) were employees and (iii) were employed in 2004. [23686]
John Healey: The Information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell to Vera Baird, dated 2 November2005:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the number of people over 65 years of age who have changed jobs in 2004. (23686)
The attached table provides the available information showing the number of people aged 65 and over, who are employees, were in employment 12 months ago and who had changed jobs one or more times within the last 12 months.
These estimates from the Labour Force Survey are, as with any sample survey, subject to sampling variability.
(6) Includes both employees and the self employed.
(7) Includes people who changed jobs more than once in past year.
(8) Only includes people who had a change of employer.
Source:
ONS—Labour Force Survey
IT Projects
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many IT projects have been developed for his Department since 2001; and whether he has agreed to make public (a) in full and (b) in part Gateway Reviews for these projects. [23493]
John Healey: Eight IT projects have been or are about to be delivered between 2002 and 2005. A Gateway Review is conducted on a confidential basis for the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) and is not generally made public. To disclose Gateway Review Reports or RAG status information would be likely to prejudice both the ability of reviewers to examine the effectiveness, efficiency and economy with which other Government Departments exercise their functions and also the formulation and development of Government policy.
Mortgages
Chris Huhne:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what provisions against loan losses the Financial Services Authority and its predecessor bodies have
2 Nov 2005 : Column 1054W
required mortgage lenders to make on their mortgage portfolios since 1998; and when guidance has been issued over the last three years. [24318]
Mr. Ivan Lewis: The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is operationally independent of the Government and is responsible for determining what provisions against loan losses it has required mortgage lenders to make on their mortgage portfolios since 1998, and when it has issued guidance on this over the last three years. The FSA shall be writing to the hon. Member shortly about these issues.
Pensions
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the level of employer contributions to public sector final salary pension schemes in 2004–05; and if he will make a statement. [23392]
Mr. Des Browne: The information requested is not available.
Tax Credits
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his Department is conducting exercises aimed at quantifying the level of official error in child and working tax credits. [18643]
Dawn Primarolo: Information on official error is collated by reference to the amount of relief given. I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave on the 27 October 2005, Official Report, column 497W, which provides an update on the amount of official error relief given.
Details on accuracy of processing and calculating awards in 2004–05 were published in the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General 2004–05, which forms part of the 2004–05 Inland report accounts. This shows an accuracy level of 96.5 per cent. in 2004–05.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether it is his policy that staff at HM Revenue and Customs should take a decision on which tax credit payments are recoverable under code of practice 26 before recovery action on tax credits is initiated; and if he will make a statement. [19294]
Dawn Primarolo: Code of practice 26, 'What happens if we have paid you too much tax credit?', sets out HMRC's policy on dealing with overpayments. I refer also to the reply to the hon. Member for Leeds, East (Mr. Mudie) on 26 October 2005, Official Report, column 368W.
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his policy is on suspending the recovery of tax credit overpayments in disputed cases; and if he will make a statement. [19295]
Dawn Primarolo:
I refer the hon. Member to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds, East (Mr. Mudie), of 26 October 2005, Official Report, column 368W.
2 Nov 2005 : Column 1055W
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average time taken was for a caller to be answered on the MPs' tax credit hotline in each month since April 2003. [19407]
Dawn Primarolo: This information is not available.
Call management and monitoring technology were only introduced to the MP hotline number on 7 October 2005.
Mr. Holloway: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what steps are being taken to improve the operation of the tax credit system; [20002]
(2) pursuant to the Written Statement from the Paymaster General of 26 May 2005, Official Report, columns 22–3WS on tax credit over-payments, what progress has been made on the implementation of the six measures to improve the tax credits system. [24209]
Dawn Primarolo: In my Statement to the House on 26 May 2005, Official Report, column 22WS, I outlined a six point recovery plan to improve the administration of tax credits. I reported on the progress that has been made on these measures at a hearing of the Treasury sub-Committee on 26 October.
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the automated response telling hon. Members and their staff that all the tax credit advisers at the MPs' tax credit hotline are busy was introduced; and if he will make it his policy to increase the number of staff available to serve the hotline. [21148]
Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 24 October 2005]: New telephony equipment was introduced to the MP hotline on 7 October 2005.
The level of staffing on helplines is kept under review.
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the likely impact on staff (a) time and (b) requirement of the decision to intervene manually in the case of a tax credit overpayment where the automatic recovery procedure has been initiated. [24141]
Dawn Primarolo: HM Revenue and Customs currently estimates that the manual suspension of recovery and subsequent necessary administrative processes will add 40 minutes to the processing of a disputed overpayment case.
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the likely average time between an automatic recovery procedure being initiated in a case of overpaid tax credits and the manual intervention by officials to stop that procedure. [24147]
Dawn Primarolo: Manual intervention to stop an automatic recovery procedure will normally take place within five working days of Tax Credit Office receiving a dispute, unless the case can be brought to a satisfactory conclusion before that time.
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families in receipt of tax credits and who are most at risk of an overpayment have been contacted by HM Revenue and Customs to ensure that their stated circumstances and incomes are up to date. [17646]
2 Nov 2005 : Column 1056W
Dawn Primarolo: As agreed with HM Revenue and Customs and announced in my statement of 26 May 2005, HMRC is currently testing the effectiveness of different methods of encouraging families to keep them informed of changes in their circumstances.
HMRC recently completed a programme of outward bound telephone calls to try and encourage people to return their renewal forms before the deadline date of 30 September 2005.
Anne Milton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what the performance target is for the commencement of payment of working tax credit once an application has been received; [17683]
(2) what percentage of working tax credit applications are being processed within the target time. [17684]
Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average time was between a tax credit application being made and the claimant receiving the first payment in (a) 2003–04, (b) 2004–05 and (c) 2005–06. [19404]
Dawn Primarolo: HMRC has Service Delivery Agreement targets for deciding tax credits claims, renewals and changes of circumstance within five days and 30 days. Targets and the performance against these targets in 2003–04 are published in the former Inland Revenue's annual report for 2003–04. 2004–05 targets and indicative results of performance are published in spring report for 2004–05 and the results, together with targets for 2005–06 will be reported in the Department's annual report in due course. These reports are available on the HMRC website, www.hmrc.gov.uk
There are no performance targets for commencement of tax credit payments. Payments are made automatically on the first scheduled payment date after the claim is decided.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |