§ Mr. PriskTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimates the Inland Revenue has made of the costs of administering the Construction Industry Scheme(a) for the construction industry and (b) for the Inland Revenue in the last financial year. [91953]
§ Dawn PrimaroloThe information is as follows:
(a) Construction businesses are not required to report the costs they incur in administering CIS and consequently information on compliance costs is limited. Any estimates are therefore tentative but for the year 2001–02 the Inland Revenue estimate that they could have been in the region of £75 million.
(b) The annual cost to the Inland Revenue of administering the IT system that supports CIS is in the order of £8 million. This figure does not include the costs of people working in our Network Offices and who support the system through processing work, customer support, and tax compliance activity. Generally speaking, these people carry out a wider range of activities and it would not be
practical to apportion their costs between the time spent on CIS and on other activities.
§ Mr. PriskTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when a decision will be taken on the future of the Construction Industry Scheme. [94849]
§ Dawn PrimaroloA decision on the future of the Scheme will be taken following analysis of the responses to the consultation document, "The Inland Revenue and the Construction Industry: Working Together for a New Scheme".