§ Mrs. Bainasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what problems were encountered in devising an operationally viable computer system for the assessment of Schedule D liabilities;
573W(2) how much finance has been allocated by Her Majesty's Government to the devising of an adequate computer system for the assessment of Schedule D liabilities; and when such a system is likely to be available;
(3) what assessment has been made of the financial loss incurred by the Government in its failure to have an adequate computer system for the assessment of Schedule D liabilities, installed on schedule at the accounts office in Cumbernauld New Town.
§ Mr. Robert Sheldon, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 1st December 1977; Vol. 940, c. 329–30], gave the following information:
The main difficulty encountered in developing the Schedule D assessing component of the Inland Revenue's accounts office project has been the complexity of the clerical procedures involved for local tax offices. In its revised form the project for accounts offices in Cumbernauld and Shipley remains cost-effective. The estimated cost attributable to developing a computer system for Schedule D etc. assessing is of the order of £1 million, but of this some two-thirds is also relevant to the corporation tax assessing system which is due to go into operation at Cumbernauld in April 1979. It remains the objective to devise an operationally viable computer system for Schedule D assessing in the longer term but this component has been dropped from the accounts office project and for the present no further resources are being allocated to it.