§ Mr. Sean HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is(a) the name of the agency charity which has been awarded the contract for his Department's payroll deduction scheme, (b) the length of time that the agency has been in existence, (c) the number of civilian and military personnel that will be covered by the agency, (d) the number of staff employed by the agency, (e) the agency's experience in dealing with computerised records systems, (f) the number of other payroll deduction schemes with which it is involved and the number of employees covered by such schemes, and (g) the length of time that will have elapsed between Mr. Chancellor's announcement of tax concessions for payroll deduction schemes and the operative date of his Department's scheme.
653W
§ Mr. SainsburyThe agency charity which has been awarded the Ministry of Defence contract for the payroll deduction scheme is South West Charitable Giving. This agency was awarded Inland Revenue approved status in March 1987. Potentially there are 161,950 civilians and 312,000 military personnel who could subscribe to the payroll deduction scheme. Details relating to the agency such as personnel are of course a matter for the company.I can however say that it is registered for payroll giving under the Data Protection Act 1986. The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced tax concessions for payroll deduction schemes in the 1986 Budget. For civilians the charities payroll giving scheme came into effect on 1 November 1988, and the armed forces expect to join the scheme on 1 April 1989.