§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what is his estimate of the extra number of staff required by the Inland Revenue in order to tax invalidity pension; what is his estimate of the gross revenue from taxing invalidity benefit; how much of this would be offset by (a) administrative costs and (b) restoring invalidity pension to the rate of retirement pension; and if he will make a statement;
(2) if he will state the reasons for the delay in bringing invalidity pension into tax; to what extent this is attributable to insufficient staff at the Inland Revenue; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. LawsonMy right hon. and learned Friend the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced in 1981—[Vol. 1000, c. 771]—that, in part because of pressures on Civil Service staff numbers, we had decided to postpone for the time being our intention to bring invalidity benefit into tax. This remains the position. The yield from taxing invalidity benefit, including invalidity allowance and assuming that invalidity pension was payable at the rate of retirement pension, is estimated to be £140 million for 1983–84. The cost of restoring the abatement of invalidity pension is estimated at £60 million. It is not possible to estimate the administrative costs or the actual number of extra staff required until detailed administrative procedures have been worked out.