HC Deb 10 February 1955 vol 536 cc2044-5
26. Mr. E. Johnson

asked the Secretary to the Treasury the average time taken to acknowledge receipt of postwar credit certificates sent with an application for repayment.

Mr. H. Brooke

The receipt of a claim to payment of post-war credit is not normally acknowledged if the payment is likely to be made within a week. In other cases an acknowledgment is sent by return of post.

Mr. Johnson

Is my hon. Friend aware that many of these people who send these valuable documents and do not receive any acknowledgment for more than a week naturally become very worried about it? Would it not be possible to acknowledge them all by printed postcards?

Mr. Brooke

I am always reluctant to add to work and cost and, therefore, to taxation by sending out acknowledgments unnecessarily if the effective document is to follow within a day or two, but if in the case of any of my hon. Friend's constituents an acknowledgment has been delayed for a long time and no payment has been received, I hope that he will convey my personal apology to his constituents.

27. Mr. E. Johnson

asked the Secretary to the Treasury what steps are taken, when an office at which claims for repayment of post-war credits are to be made has been closed, to publicise both the fact that this has happened and the new address to which applications should be made.

Mr. H. Brooke

When a tax office is closed, arrangements are made with the local postmaster for forwarding correspondence direct to the new address.

Mr. Johnson

Is my hon. Friend aware that these arrangements are not working at all satisfactorily, and that I could draw his attention to the case of a disabled man who had to go to two offices? He found the first one was closed, and when he finally found the right office and arrived there just after four o'clock he was told to go away as it was too late and work was finished for the day.

Mr. Brooke

I feel very sorry indeed if anybody has suffered any inconvenience, but post-war credit certificates necessarily bear the address of the tax district in which they were issued many years ago. If an application or a communication is sent by post to that office, which perhaps will be the wiser course, the postal services will see that it is directed immediately to the right address.