§ Mr. Bakerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether any plans have been formulated and in what time scale to computerise the Pay As You Earn system.
§ Mr. Robert Sheldon, pursuant to his reply [Official Report, 15th November 1977], gave the following information
The automation of PAYE is currently under review and as I told the right hon. Member for Wanstead and Woodford (Mr. Jenkin) on 26th October 1976 —[Vol. 918, c. 204–5]—a small pilot scheme in six tax offices in the Midlands and North-West is to test the feasibility of introducing a national computer system for PAYE in local tax districts. That pilot scheme is now running. Planning is still at the early stages but subject to the necessary finance being available, the Inland Revenue expects to be making substantial use of automation for its major tax systems, including PAYE, by the mid-1980s.