§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what progress has been made towards completing the joint research project to establish the current compliance costs of tax/national insurance contributions legislation and systems referred to in his White Paper, "The Way Forward". [15588]
§ Mr. JackThe contract to carry out the study was awarded to the Centre for Fiscal Studies at Bath university in October 1995. The work is expected to take around 18 months to complete and should give an up-to-date picture of those aspects of the system which give rise to the largest compliance costs for business. The research team has been asked to identify options for simplification of current operational procedures which could reduce those costs.