§ Mrs. Renée Short asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps are being taken to compensate 199W companies and firms which were owed sums of money from value added tax as a result of the civil servants' dispute; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Bruce-Gardyne [pursuant to his reply, 22 October 1981]: None. The backlog of repayments of value added tax outstanding at the end of the civil servants' industrial action has now been cleared and subsequent claims for repayment are being dealt with promptly. Special arrangements were made during the industrial action to allow income tax, and other debts due to the Crown, to be offset against delayed repayments of VAT.
§ Mrs. Renée Short asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the estimated amount of value added tax payments that were not collected due to the civil servants' dispute; and how much he estimates the Government had to pay in interest charges as a result of not collecting this revenue.
§ Mr. Bruce-Gardyne [pursuant to his reply, 22 October, 1981]: It is estimated that at the end of September the amount of VAT payments not collected owing to the dispute was about £3,500 million. During the dispute repayments of VAT to traders who normally receive them could not be made. It is estimated that interest on borrowing the net deficiency has been about £30 million.