§ Mr. MandelsonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many counter callers and telephone queries the Inland Revenue had in the period February to March in 1992, 1993 and 1994.
§ Mr. DorrellThe numbers of counter callers and telephone queries dealt with by tax offices in the periods concerned are set out in the table. Data are not available for the smaller number of specialist and collection offices.
325W
Counter callers Telephone callers Mid February to mid March 1992 388,273 1,980,322 Mid February to mid March 1993 342,917 2,079,299 Mid February to mid March 1994 352,043 2,354,400 The earlier timing of the Budget has allowed all the consequential adjustments to employee codings to be made at the start of the year. In the past there would have been a recoding exercise following the Budget in March, and queries would have arisen after that.
As in previous years, however, there has been a decrease in the aggregate number of counter and telephone callers in the reporting period to mid-March this year.