Members: Correspondence
Treasury
Written answers and statements, 13 November 2007
Simon Burns (Whip, Whips; West Chelmsford, Conservative)
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he expects HM Revenue and Customs to reply substantively to the letter of 30 April 2007 from the hon. Member for West Chelmsford, regarding a constituent, Mrs. C. Austin (HMRC ref: 2007/05 00517); what the reasons are for the time taken to reply; and if he will make a statement.
Jane Kennedy (Financial Secretary, HM Treasury; Liverpool, Wavertree, Labour)
Although it is HM Revenue and Customs' practice to reply to the majority of letters from right hon. and hon. Members within three weeks, following the administrative issue I referred to in my statement of
These delays are a result of HMRC having to look again at cases potentially affected by the procedural error and to ensure that households/individuals affected by the error are not given incorrect advice in advance of their award being reviewed.
The three months indicated in the recent letter to the hon. Member was intended to be helpful and indicate the latest date by which HMRC hoped to have resolved the inquiry.
Annotations
Graham Forrest
Posted on 14 Nov 2007 8:07 pm (Report this annotation)
If our MP's can't get an answer out of HMRC after six and a half months, what hope do the public - HMRCs Customers - have.
The Chancellor, Alistair Darling, still hasn't replied to Shadow Chancellor George Osbournes' letter of 3 September 2007. What hope is there when letters aren't responded to at the top levels?
HMRCs Tax Credits Office is incompetent at dealing with correspondence, disputes and overpayments. Jane Kennedy has given the type of response that we have all come to expect from this Govenment.
HMRC have moved their workforce from 2nd tier complaints to cover the procedural errors mentioned in her response, and therefore the terminally unacceptable delays in responding to Customer correspondence are compounded yet further!
When are Ministers going to address the fundamental problems at the HMRC Tax Credit Office, instead of thinking that they can continue to patronise not only other MP's, but every other person in the UK as well. When IS something going to be done about this?