HC Deb 23 June 1978 vol 952 cc347-9W
Mr. John Moore

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what has been the total

A B C
Staff effort (in man-years)* Registered persons Staff per £1 million collected*
31st March 1973 … … … … … 6,300 981,200† Not applicable‡
31st March 1974 … … … … … 7,700 1,196,700 4.8
31st March 1975 … … … … … 10,500 1,223,800 4.0
31st March 1976 … … … … … 10,850 1,250,800 3.0

On revised method of calculation of staff effort:

A B C
… … … … … Staffeffort {in man-years)* Registered persons Staff per £1 million collected*
31st March 1977 … … … … … 12,213 1,274,600 3.2
31st March 1978 … … … … … 12,070 1,330,400 2.9
* Figures of staff effort and staff per £1 million collected up to 1976 include car tax. Thereafter the figures are for VAT only.
† Not all persons liable to be registered with effect from 1st April 1973 had registered by 31st March.
‡ VAT and car tax were introduced with effect from 1st April 1973.

number of staff employed by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise in connection with value added tax, for each year from 1973 to 1977 inclusive; what was the total number of registered value added taxpayers for each of these years; what was the number of value added tax staff per £1 million of value added tax collected; and how these figures compare with other members of the EEC with a value added tax system.

Mr. Robert Sheldon

Earlier this year Her Majesty's Customs and Excise adopted a revised and improved method of attributing staff effort and costs to their activities. The main feature of the new method is that greater allowance is made for staff engaged on administrative support work. This new basis of calculation has been used to attribute staff to activities at 31st March 1977 and 1978 and provided the VAT staffing figures which I gave in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Brecon and Radnor (Mr. Roderick) on 16th May 1978.—[Vol. 950.c. 137.] These figures are not comparable with those previously published; nor is it practicable to apply the new method of calculation retrospectively to the introduction of VAT. The table below therefore estimates the staff effort involved in VAT on two different bases.

The estimates of the total Customs and Excise star employed in connection with the administration of VAT are shown in column A below, and the approximate number of persons registered for VAT are set out in column B. Column C shows the estimated staff at 31st March each year per £1 million of VAT collected in the preceding year.

I regret that comparative figures for other members of the EEC are not published.