§ 50. Colonel WOODCOCKasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the number of land valuers who were employed immediately prior to the ending of the Land Value Duties, and what was the total amount of their salaries at that time and the number and salaries of the land valuers at present employed in the Inland Revenue Department; will he state the number of land valuers, with their salaries, who have been transferred to other Departments during this interval, and the nature of the duties at present carried out by the land valuers; whether any of these duties had been previously carried out satisfactorily by other branches of the Inland Revenue Department; and was this supplementary staff required to perform these duties?
| 1st July, 1914. | 1st August, 1920. | 1st March, 1928. | ||||
| — | Numbers. | Salaries. | Numbers. | Salaries (basic). | Numbers. | Salaries (basic). |
| Chief Valuer | 1 | 1,200 | 1 | 1,200, | 1 | 1,500 |
| Deputy Chief Valuer | 1 | 900 | 1 | 1,000 | 1 | 1,200 |
| Chief Valuer, Scotland | 1 | 875 | 1 | 1,000 | 1 | 1,100 |
| Assistant Chief Valuer, Scotland | 1 | 800 | 1 | 850 | 1 | 900 |
| Assistant Superintending Valuers | 14 | 11,750 | 13 | 11,000 | 12 | 11,050 |
| Assistant Valuers, 1st Class | 103 | 63,215 | 118 | 79,500 | 110 | 80,610 |
| Valuers, 2nd Class | 101 | 39,415 | 118 | 51,950 | 125 | 61,606 |
| Valuers, 3rd Class | 59 | 15,160 | 147 | 44,980 | 97 | 33,292 |
| Valuers | 753 | 165,660 | 5 | 2,065 | — | — |
| Valuation Assistants | 1,554 | 155,400 | — | — | — | — |
| Totals | 2,588 | 454,375 | 405 | 193,545 | 348 | 191,258 |
§ No record in general exists of the employment taken up by the large numbers of staff whose services in the valuation office ceased to be required. Eight established valuers, whose salaries, exclusive of bonus at the time of transfer aggregated to £5,390 have been transferred to other Government Departments since 1914.
§ The duties at present carried out by the Valuation Office are described in Command Paper No. 918 of 1920. Values for landed property for death duty purposes were at one time settled by the Estate Duty Office, without the resources of local knowledge or practical possibility of viewing the property. The work of the Valuation Office in this connexion is necessary, and could not be discontinued
1160§ The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the TREASURY (Mr. Arthur Michael Samuel)As the answer to this question is long and contains a number of figures, I will, with my hon. and gallant Friend's permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Colonel WOODCOCKAre these civil servants in profitable employment, or will they be supernumerary to establishment?
§ Mr. SAMUELIf these officials were done away with, there would eventually be a loss to the revenue.
§ Following is the answer:
§ The land value duties ceased in 1914 to operate effectively, but were not repealed until the 4th August, 1920. The following statement shows the numbers and salaries of valuers at those dates and the present time:
§ without loss to the Revenue coupled with increase of the Estate Duty staff.