§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what secondments(a) PricewaterhouseCoopers. (b) Deloitte & Touche, (c) Ernst amp; Young and (d) KPMG have made to his Department since 2001; for what (i) periods and (ii) tasks the secondments were made; whether secondments of staff from his Department have been made to those firms; and for what (A) periods and (B) tasks. [156915]
§ Ruth KellySince 2001, the Treasury has hosted the following secondments:
§ Dawn Primarolo[holding answer 4 March 2004]: As set out in its Code of Practice 'What happens if we have paid you too much tax credit?', the Inland Revenue will accept that an overpayment should not be recovered if it arose because of their mistake and the person could reasonably have thought their award was right. The total of overpayments during 2003–04 cannot be established until awards for that year are finalised. However, the Inland Revenue may accept during the year that the test of official error is satisfied and adjust payments accordingly. The overpayment will then be finally written off when the award is finalised.