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4 Dec 2007 : Column 1202W—continued
HMRC does not hold information on the income of employees within holiday pay schemes.
Definitive projections to 2015 are not available. An estimate of the revenue from the measure beyond that outlined in the pre-Budget Report is stated in the Impact Assessment.
HMRC held a number of meetings with representatives of the construction sector holiday pay funds and their professional advisers.
Northern Rock
Peter Viggers: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what arrangements are in place for Northern Rock to pay interest on monies advanced to it by the Bank of England; what interest rate applies; and when it will be payable. [168358]
Kitty Ussher [holding answer 26 November 2007]: I refer the right hon. Gentlemen to the letters the Chancellor sent to the chairs of the Public Accounts Committee and the Treasury Select Committee on 11 October 2007, which are available in the House Library.
Northern Rock: Pensions
Mr. Henderson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make representations to the pensions regulator to ensure that existing and future liabilities of the pension schemes of those employed by Northern Rock are fully funded. [169849]
Kitty Ussher: I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Eastbourne (Mr. Waterson) on 30 October 2007, Official Report, column 1187W.
Personation
Martin Horwood: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps his Department is taking to reduce the vulnerability of tax correspondence to identify theft. [165217]
Jane Kennedy: HMRC initiated immediate increases in security with a new process:
transfers will now only take place if they are absolutely necessary;
written authorisation for the transfer has to be given by senior HMRC manager; and
a clear instruction has been given regarding the appropriate standard of protection for the transfer.
Where directors decide that a data transfer by disc is unavoidable such media must, in every case, be securely encrypted at the appropriate level.
On 20 November the Chancellor announced an independent review of HMRC's data handling procedures to be conducted by Kieran Poynter, the chair of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Public Expenditure: Wales
Adam Price: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the answer of 26 November 2007, Official Report, column 57W, on public expenditure: Wales, what elements of spending in relation to subscriptions to international organisations are devolved; what transport programmes Cycling England spending is now subsumed within; and what the comparability factor of that programme is for Wales. [170222]
Andy Burnham: UK Departments pay subscriptions to international organisations on behalf of the United Kingdom as a whole. In some circumstances, the devolved Administrations may make a contribution towards a UK Department's expenditure on international subscriptions. Information relating to individual contributions could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
Expenditure previous recorded under the Cycling England programme is now carried within the Local Transport group of programmes. Annex C of the October 2007 edition of “Funding the Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales and Northern Ireland Assembly: Statement of Funding Policy” shows this area of spending to be comparable in Wales. The SFP gives details of all comparability factors.
Revenue and Customs: Data Protection
Keith Vaz: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what training procedures are in place for staff at HM Revenue and Customs on security of information. [168467]
Jane Kennedy:
It would be inappropriate to comment on this issue as there is an ongoing Metropolitan Police Service investigation and an independent review of
HMRC’s security processes and procedures for data handling led by Kieran Poynter, the Chair of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
On 20 November the Chancellor announced an independent review of HMRC’s data handling procedures to be conducted by Kieran Poynter, the Chair of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The full terms of reference for that review are available on the HM Treasury website at: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/newsroom_and_speeches/press/2007_133_07.cfm and a copy has been placed in the Library of the House.
Revenue and Customs: Stroud
Mr. Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many full-time equivalent staff there are at the Stroud tax office; and how many there were in each year since 1997. [171015]
Jane Kennedy: The number of full-time equivalent staff employed by HM Revenue and Customs (the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise before April 2005) in Stroud was:
| Number | |
Smuggling: Convictions
Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many and what percentage of HM Revenue and Customs investigations into the smuggling of (a) drugs, (b) people, (c) tobacco, (d) alcohol and (e) firearms resulted in a conviction in each of the last 10 years. [168639]
Jane Kennedy [holding answer 28 November 2007]: High level data on investigations and convictions are published in HM Revenue and Customs Annual Reports. Copies of the Annual Reports are available in the Library of the House. HM Revenue and Customs is not responsible for the investigation and prosecution of people smuggling offences.
Wealth: Peterborough
Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the number of millionaires resident in the Peterborough city council area. [169826]
Jane Kennedy: Estimates are not available at local level.
Welfare Tax Credits
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many tax credit (a) maladministration payments and (b) consolatory payments were made in each of the last 12 months. [167656]
Jane Kennedy: The circumstances in which HM Revenue and Customs will make compensation payments to its customers are explained in the Department's fact sheet, ‘Complaints and Putting Things Right', which is available at:
For the number of compensation payments made each month from October 2006 to May 2007, I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Laws) on 5 July 2007, Official Report, columns 1186-87W. Information for the period June 2007 to October 2007 is shown in the following table:
| 2007 | Number of compensatory payments |
The lower number of compensatory payments made over the summer reflects the fact that HMRC have been actively sifting cases to identify those affected by the administrative problem that I referred to in my written statement of 25 July. HMRC have since cleared the backlog.
Welfare Tax Credits: Correspondence
Mr. Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many letters on tax credits from hon. and right hon. Members to (a) Ministers and (b) the Tax Credit Office were not sent a substantive reply within (i) one month, (ii) two months, (iii) three months and (iv) six months in the period 2005 to 2007. [165166]
Jane Kennedy: (a) The information is not collated in the format requested and is available only at disproportionate cost.
(b) Between 1 January 2005 and 30 September 2007 Tax Credit Office received around 26,500 letters from hon. and right hon. Members. The information is provided in the following table:
| Time taken to reply | Number of letters | Percentage of letters answered |
Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments
Mr. Philip Hammond: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many letters were written by HM Revenue and Customs requesting the recovery of overpaid tax credits in each of the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement. [167657]
Jane Kennedy: The number of requests to pay back overpaid tax credits (forms TC610) issued by HM Revenue and Customs in the last 12 months was:
| Month | Forms TC610 Issued (Thousand) |
Notices to pay are issued where there is no continuing tax credits entitlement and can be generated by a number of things, including changes to family circumstances or a failure to renew applications for tax credits.
The numbers in the table reflect the number of forms issued and not the number of households they were issued to. In joint claimant cases, each claimant is sent a notice to pay so one household might receive two notices.
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