§ Peter BradleyTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families in The Wrekin are in receipt of(a) working tax credit and (b) child tax credit; and what the average change in income has been as a result. [162771]
§ Dawn PrimaroloFor the numbers in receipt of child tax credit (CTC) and working tax credit (WTC), I refer my hon. Friend to my answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Burton (Mrs Dean) on 15 March 2004,Official Report, column 98W.
It is not possible to estimate the average change in income from the introduction of CTC and WTC for families in The Wrekin. An estimated 3,500 in-work families there were receiving more than the family element of CTC at January 2004, compared with 2,100 receiving Working Families' and Disabled Person's Tax Credits at November 2002; and there was an increase of £180 per year in the child element of CTC from April announced in the November 2003 Pre Budget Report. Out-of-work families with children have also benefited from the increases to the child premia in Income Support and income-based Jobseeker's Allowance from April 2003.
§ Mr. HepburnTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how much money has been overpaid to tax credit recipients in(a) the Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the United Kingdom in (i) 2003 and (ii) 2004 to date; [161887]
(2) how many people in (a) the Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the United Kingdom were overpaid disabled person's tax credit before its replacement by working tax credit; [161898]
(3) how many people in (a) the Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the United Kingdom have been overpaid working tax credit; [161899]
(4) how many people in (a) the Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) the United Kingdom receive working tax credit. [161897]
§ Dawn PrimaroloThe number of families with overpayments in 2003–04 cannot be established until awards for that year are finalised.
On overpayments of the Disabled Person's Tax Credit, I refer my hon. Friend to my answer to the hon. Member for Eddisbury (Mr. O'Brien) on 12 November 2003 Official Report, column 394W.
666WThe number of families in the United Kingdom and in each region receiving (a) child tax credit and (b) working tax credit appears in "Child and Working Tax Credit. Quarterly Statistics". The number of families in each local authority and constituency receiving child or working tax credit appears in "Child and Working Tax Credit. Geographical Analyses"; the estimates are based on a sample of cases and are subject to sampling uncertainty. Both publications appear on the Inland Revenue website, at: www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/stats/ personal-tax-credits/menu.htm.
§ Norman LambTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how many awards of child tax credit have been determined to have been wrongly calculated; and of those how many were(a) too high and (b) too low; [161384]
(2) how many awards of child tax credit have been determined to have been wrongly calculated in (a) the North West and (b) Lancashire; and of those how many were (i) too high and (ii) too low. [162150]
§ Dawn PrimaroloTax credits awards are made on the basis of information captured from claim forms or from claims made online (at www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk/ taxcredits). Awards are then adjusted if a change in circumstances or income is reported. They may also be adjusted if any of the information on which the award was based is incorrect. But it is not possible to distinguish between cases where families' circumstances or incomes have changed and those where the original information provided was incorrect or was handled incorrectly.