§ Mr. Warrenasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total number of staff engaged in the collection of VAT at the Southend-on-Sea headquarters of the operation and the total in the United Kingdom compared with the numbers on 1st March 1974.
§ Mr. Robert Sheldon,pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 26th May, 1978; Vol. 950, c. 762], gave the following information:
An estimate of the total staff effort on management and collection of VAT in the United Kingdom was given in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Brecon and Radnor (Mr. Roderick) on 16th May 1978 [Official Report, Col. 137.] The staff effort on management and collection of VAT at the Southend-on-Sea part of Customs and Excise headquarters is estimated to be equivalent to about 1,450 man years. No allowance is made in this figure for staff engaged on administrative support work.
The figures given in the reply referred to above were based on the latest detailed analysis (1977) of the functional use of Customs and Excise staff, modified by more up-to-date information. This represents a new and improved method of attributing staff effort and costs to all Customs and Excise functions. This method could not be reliably applied to previous periods, and I regret therefore that any figures given for 1st March 1974 would not be comparable.