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7 Mar 2006 : Column 1305W—continued

Tax Credits

Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress is being made by HM Revenue and Customs in introducing more rigorous checks on changes of circumstance notified to the Tax Credit Office (a) by post, (b) by telephone and (c) by internet; and if he will make a statement. [38148]

Dawn Primarolo: HMRC has a range of measures in place to combat non-compliance which are kept under review. All reported changes to circumstances are risk assessed and where appropriate are considered for further examination by HMRC's compliance teams, along with direct referrals from staff who suspect a reported change. Where non-compliance is discovered HMRC have a number of measures available to them including prosecution under the new law of tax credit fraud.

Mr. Hoban: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what estimate he has made of the number of tax credit claimants affected by technical issues preventing (a) automatic payments being made into bank accounts and (b) cheques being posted to 2004–05 tax year accounts; [50599]

(2) when the technical issues preventing the (a) posting of cash cheques to correct tax year accounts and (b) automatic payment of tax credits to claimants' bank accounts were first identified; what steps are being taken to resolve them; what assessment he has made of (i) when they will be corrected and (ii) the cost of correcting them; whether the cost of correcting them will be met from public funds; and what assessment he has made of the impact of these technical issues on the ability of HM Revenue and Customs to resolve disputes with claimants. [50642]

 
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Dawn Primarolo: There are around 21,500 tax credits claimants currently receiving regular manual payments instead of automatic payments (whether BACS or cheques). This represents around 0.35 per cent. of tax credits claimants.

At the end of February there were around 24,000 individual cheque encashments on the 2004–05 worklist that had not been posted to the taxpayers records.

HMRC are working hard to improve administration, address technical issues and minimise impact on taxpayers.

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library copies of the most recent available drafts of (a) a tax credit award notice, (b) a tax credit overpayment notification letter, (c) an end of year renewals form and (d) Code of Practice 26. [54160]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 27 February 2006]: Copies of the tax credit award notices that will be issued to claimants from 6 April onwards have been placed in the Library. A new version of COP 26 will be published in April. HMRC is currently consulting on a revised version, a copy of which has been placed in the Library.

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the Paymaster General's evidence to the Treasury Select Committee, 1 February 2006, question 307, what the cost is of extending additional payments of tax credits for claimants who are in hardship and who have suffered a reduction of regular payments due to their income rising by more than £2,500. [54161]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 27 February 2006]: There is no net cost. There will be a cash flow effect as additional payments will reduce the rate at which overpayments are recovered. The size of this effect will depend on the level of additional payments which results from the changes but it is likely to be small.

Mr. Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many TC610 Notice to Pay forms were issued in (a) 2003–04, (b) 2004–05 and (c) 2005–06. [54164]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 27 February 2006]: The information requested is:
TC610s issued

	Thousand
2003–04	0
2004–05	1,025
2005–06	1,451

Anne Main: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 9 February 2006, Official Report, column 1397W, on tax credits, how many claims were not decided within 30 days; and what the (a) average and (b) longest time taken was to decide one of those claims. [54254]

Dawn Primarolo: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has service delivery agreement targets for deciding tax credit claims within five working days and 30 working days and reports progress against those targets in its annual report. It reported that, for
 
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2004–05, 95.9 per cent. of all new claims, renewals and changes of circumstances were decided within 30 working days of receipt, therefore 4.1 per cent. of new claims, renewals and changes of circumstances were decided outside 30 days.

The information requested at (a) and (b) is not available.

Anne Main: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 9 February 2006, Official Report, column 1397W, on tax credits, how many families were sent more than one tax credit entitlement notice in each year. [54256]

Dawn Primarolo: This information is not available.

However, the great majority of families receiving tax credits will have received more than one award notice in any given year, as couples receive individual notices and notices are issued when the award is renewed and each time there is a household change of circumstances in keeping with the principle of independent taxation.

Mr. Wills: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what research he has evaluated on the effects of tax credits on incentives to work. [54613]

Dawn Primarolo: The Institute for Fiscal Studies were commissioned to evaluate the impact of the working families' tax credit. In the final evaluation, which was produced in 2005, they found that working families' tax credit had increased labour supply of lone mothers by around 5 percentage points and had a broadly neutral effect on the employment of couple families, compared with family credit, which preceded it.

These results are consistent with other independent research.

Mr. Lancaster: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many tax credit overpayments have been written off (a) in part and (b) in full in respect of residents of Milton Keynes since tax credits were introduced. [54679]

Dawn Primarolo: This information requested is not available at constituency level and in the format requested.

Mr. Holloway: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list the tax credits available to businesses investing in research and development in each year since 1997. [54738]

John Healey: Research and Development (R&D) tax credits have been available from 1 April 2000 for companies that are small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). They became available for large companies from 1 April 2002. Since 22 April 2003 Vaccines Research Relief has also been available for companies undertaking R&D into certain medicines and vaccines.

Miss McIntosh: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent representations he has received on the administration of tax credits. [55203]

Dawn Primarolo: Treasury Ministers have received a number of representations on various aspects of the administration of the tax credits system and I have reported regularly to the House on its operation.
 
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Mark Durkan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the location is of each tax credits office assigned to deal with the tax credit claims of Northern Ireland residents working (a) in the Republic of Ireland and (b) within Northern Ireland. [55868]

Dawn Primarolo: Tax credit claims from Northern Ireland residents working in the Republic of Ireland are dealt with in Belfast. Claims from Northern Ireland residents working within Northern Ireland may be dealt with by tax credit offices in Belfast, Preston or Liverpool.

Tax Returns

Mr. Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many people in Northern Ireland he estimates have completed their Inland Revenue annual returns via the internet in each of the last five years. [56167]

Dawn Primarolo [holding answer 3 March 2006]: The available information does not separate returns from individuals filed over the internet from those submitted by their agents. Nor can HM Revenue and Customs separate returns made to Northern Ireland offices by Northern Ireland residents from those resident in the rest of the UK. The number of returns filed electronically in Northern Ireland for the current year and the previous two years is as follows. (Earlier years' figures are not readily available):

Return year	Year submitted	Total
2003–03	2003–04	19,643
2003–04	2004–05	31,187
2004–05	2005–06	52,565

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