§ Mr. Timothy Smithasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the computerisation of the pay-as-you-earn system that is currently being undertaken by the Inland Revenue will be restricted to schedule E taxpayers; and what internal controls will be placed on access to the computerised data.
§ Mr. RidleyThere are no plans at present to extend the PAYE computer system to taxpayers outside schedule E. Various internal controls are being imposed on access to computerised data. Both physical and software security checks have been incorporated in the system being developed so that staff in tax offices will have access only to those records which are appropriate to their own office. Even tighter controls apply to making changes to computerised data and to repayment transactions.