§ Ms. MowlamTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what consultations were undertaken with service users in the course of the production of the contributors charter and the employers charter.
§ Miss WiddecombeThe consultations undertaken with service users in the course of production of the contributor's and employer's charters is a matter for Miss Ann Chant, the chief executive of the Contributions Agency. She will write to the hon. Member and a copy will be placed in the Library.
628WLetter from Miss A. Chant to Ms. Marjorie Mowlam, dated 27 October 1992:
As Chief Executive of the Contributions Agency I am responsible for answering questions about relevant operational matters. I am therefore replying to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State about the consultations that were undertaken with service users in the course of production of our Charters.
The Contributions Agency produced a working draft of the Charters which was circulated to the 36 customer organisations with whom we had contact. They were given 2 months to comment and we asked them what they thought about both its style and content. From the replies we received we made several significant amendments and incorporated those in the first versions of the Charters.
The 36 organisations represented accountants, payroll bureaux, large and small employers and the self-employed. The interests of individual contributors were represented by the National Association ofCitizen's Advice Bureaux, the TUC and the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions.