HC Deb 17 July 2003 vol 409 cc454-6W
Dr. Pugh

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff are employed to man advisory hotlines for working families tax credit; how many are civil servants; and how many have received training in this area. [117641]

Dawn Primarolo

I said in my comments during the debate on the floor of the House on 10 April 2003,Official Report, column 503, that a further 700 staff would be added by 15 April 2003 to the 1,900 staff already deployed on the helpline. These were full-time equivalent figures for the Great Britain helpline. Since then the number has fluctuated, but the average between 14 April and the end of June 2003 was about 2,900. Some of the work was outsourced for a period, and all staff have received appropriate training.

During the same period there was an average of about 3,900 telephone lines servicing the helpline.

Mr. Alan Reid

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will place in the Library a copy of the script used by advisers at the tax credit helpline for responding to callers who have asked for their tax credits to be paid into a Post Office card account. [115676]

Dawn Primarolo

The script used by tax credit staff when dealing with people who have asked for their tax credits to be paid into a Post Office card account follows that placed in the Library by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answers given by the then Under-Secretary for Work and Pensions, Malcolm Wicks, on 26 March and 11 April 2003Official Report, columns 289W and 472W.

Dr. Cable

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many(a) telephone lines and (b) telephonists there are for the tax credit helpline; and if he will make a statement. [115910]

Tim Loughton

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what telephone hotlines and advice lines have been operated by his Department for people seeking advice about children's tax credits; what charges apply to each; and how many calls they have each taken. [123896]

Mr. Willetts

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many calls have been made to the tax credit helpline in each month since it was first established; and how many of these calls have been answered; [125413]

(2) how many calls have been made to the MPs' tax credit hotline in each month since it was first established; and how many of these calls have been answered. [125414]

Dawn Primarolo

Telephone help lines have been in operation since August 2002 for claimants for child and working tax credits living in Great Britain and in Northern Ireland. The advisers can answer both general inquiries and inquiries about specific claims. Calls to these lines are charged at local rates.

The number of calls received and handled each month by the Great Britain helpline, rounded to the nearest thousand, appear in the following table:

Calls to the GB child and working tax credit helpline received and handled August 2002 to June2003
Thousand
Received1 Handled2
August 2002 28 28
September 2002 179 177
October 2002 324 320
November 2002 394 375
December 2002 268 265
January 2003 852 771
February 2003 1,168 957
March 2003 2,487 1,701
April 2003 2,509 1,768
May 2003 2,000 1,680
June 2003 957 913
Total to June 2003 1,168 8,956
1 Where the caller selected an option from the call steering menu and was put in a queue to speak to an adviser.
2 Where the caller spoke to an adviser.
3 Totals may not equal the sum of individual months because of rounding

The Northern Ireland helpline handled 328,000 calls up to June 2003.

A response line is in operation giving general advice, but not answering inquiries about specific claims, Its had answered 2.7 million calls by the end of June 2003, including both those answered live by an operator and those answered by recorded voice. Calls to this line are free of charge. There are telephone hotlines for tax credits for Members of Parliament in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Calls to these lines are charged at national rate. For the weekly number of calls answered by these hotlines to the week starting 30 April, I refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Galloway and Upper Nithsdale (Mr. Duncan) on 11 June 2003, Official Report, columns 859–60W. These hotlines answered 4,4000 calls in the four weeks starting 5 May 2003 and 5,000 during the five weeks starting 2 June 2003. In total, they answered 11,500 calls between 30 December 2002 and the week starting 30 June 2003. It is not known how many calls to these hotlines were not answered.

In addition, the Inland Revenue website contains information on tax credits, and a facility for potential claimants to enter family circumstances to check for eligibility and the size of the award. There were over 7.2 million such checks made to the end of June 2003.