§ Mr. MARRIOTTasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the precise character of the duties performed by the Inland Revenue Land Valuation Office other than those connected with the assessment of the Increment Value Duty, the Undeveloped Land Duty, and the Reversion Duty; whether any estimate has been made of the total value of the services of this Department to the State since the estimate made by the Treasury in May, 1914; whether the cost of the Department for the period then referred to was £3,022,000; and whether he can give a corresponding statement bringing the figures down to 31st March, 1918?
§ Mr. BONAR LAWIn addition to work of the character to which my hon. Friend refers, the functions for which the Valuation Office of the Board of Inland Revenue are responsible include (1) valuation of all property passing on death for purposes of Estate Duty Legacy Duty, and Succession 1573W Duty, (2) valuation of property passing under voluntary dispositions for purposes of Stamp Duty, (3) valuation of licensed premises for purposes of compensation under the Licensing (Consolidation) Act, 1910, (4) determination of annual licence value in certain cases, (5) valuation of minerals in connection with Mineral Rights Duty, (6) compilation of register of lands acquired out of moneys provided by Parliament.
The Valuation Office also perform work of a very varied character for other Government Departments, the range and importance of which it would be quite impossible to indicate within the limits of Parliamentary question and answer. I may, however, mention that the office have undertaken a great quantity of work of an urgent character arising directly out of war conditions, especially on behalf of the Board of Agriculture, the Board of Trade, the Admiralty, the Air Ministry, the War Office, and the Ministry of Munitions. In this connection my hon. Friend may have noticed the reference to part of the work of the Valuation Office contained in paragraph 20 of the Fourth Report from the Select Committee on National Expenditure.
In the nature of the case it is not possible to frame any estimate of the value of these services. The figure of £3,022,000 represented the estimated total cost of the Valuation Office up to the 31st March, 1915, and covered both the non-recurrent expenditure of a capital nature in connection with the original valuation and also the expenditure charged on the Votes of other Departments and on other sub-heads of the Inland Revenue Vote. The corresponding total cost up to the 31st March, 1918, may be estimated at £4,226,000.