§ Mr. JenkinTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the readiness of the Inland Revenue to administer the mechanisms relating to taxation set out in the Scotland Bill, by the financial year 2000–2001.[31384]
§ Dawn Primarolo[holding answer 26 February 1998]: The Government intend to make the tax-varying power proposed in the Scotland Bill available to the Scottish Parliament from the year of assessment 2000/01. In order to achieve this, the Inland Revenue has set up a project which will implement a system to enable them to collect income tax at any varied rate set by the Parliament, pay into the Scottish Consolidated Fund the amounts due to the Parliament, and account for tax collected on the Parliament's behalf. This system will, among other things, enable Scottish taxpayers to be identified and enable tax at the correct rate to be collected from them. The Scottish Office are represented on the Board overseeing the project. There will also be close consultation with representatives of employers and others to ensure that the system is in place by April 2000.