Written question asked by Lord Cotter (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 23 November 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 30 November 2004. It was answered by Baroness Primarolo (Labour) on Tuesday, 30 November 2004 on behalf of the Treasury.

Treasury

Question: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of what caused the Inland Revenue error that led to the overpayment of tax credit payments; and what action he is taking to ensure that such an error will not occur again in the future. - Inc ref to Inland Revenue's Annual Report for 2003-04, pages 42 and 104.

Answer: Brian Cotter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of what caused the Inland Revenue error that led to the overpayment of tax credit payments; and what action he is taking to ensure that such an error will not occur again in the future. [199768] Dawn Primarolo: Details are in the Inland Revenue's Annual Report for 2003-04, published on 21 October 2004, at page 42 and at page 104 of the Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General attached to it. A software error in April and May 2003 caused incorrect payments of tax credits; the error was corrected for June 2003 onwards.

Secondary information