Speeches by Olney.

“ We look forward to seeing that. Can you estimate what impact those inaccuracies are having on the ability of taxpayers to get their taxes right?”

“ Are you confident that the 34% will be reduced in the next report?”

“ When you found that worryingly high number of advisers not following correct procedures, did you not do some re-sampling to give yourself some comfort that the explanation you have just given was the reason that was happening?”

“ If they had not attained the required level of proficiency, why were they answering calls?”

“ It is not about efficiency; it is about accuracy.”

“ When people are able to get through, it has been found through sampling some of the customer calls that advisers have not fully complied with procedures in a third—that is, a third—of calls that were sampled. That is obviously going to have a knock-on impact on customers’ ability to get their taxes right. Can you…”

“ Thank you very much. I will write to you about this particular case, if that is okay.”

“ I have been contacted by a business in my constituency about R&D tax reliefs. It told me that because HMRC changed its classification once it applied for R&D tax credits, it was then rejected. It has had enormous difficulty engaging with HMRC to discuss the matter. The case was opened in 2022; there was then a wh…”

“ So you are still working out the covid interruption impacts.”

“ To summarise, your approach will be to ensure that the new debt does not become aged, as opposed to having a new approach to collecting aged debt. Mr Holliday, I see that the amount of debt written off increased from £3.2 billion in ’22-23 to £5 billion in ’23-24, which is obviously a significant increase. Are yo…”

“ Thank you. It is clear from the report that the debt balance is becoming progressively more aged. Do you have any specific approaches to tackling some of the older debt?”

“ Can you give me a sense of how those staff are going to be deployed to help you manage that? Perhaps Mr Holliday could answer.”

“ Finally, will the additional compliance staff you are recruiting be deployed primarily in upstream compliance activities or will they perhaps be more focused on prosecutions?”

“ I note in the report that £14 billion of that £42 billion compliance yield is coming from upstream compliance, which is better managing people’s tax affairs before they get to a non-compliance phase. A lot of that accounting is based on estimates and it is a little bit uncertain. Can you talk us a little more thr…”

“ Is there not a danger that, in the lower-value cases, failing to prosecute some of the criminal behaviour reduces that deterrent effect, and perhaps leads to almost a culture of non-compliance, because people do not think that they will be pursued?”

“ Can I ask how you have achieved that increase in compliance yield? According to the report, there is an increasing focus on upstream compliance, but according to the numbers in your report, that has led to a decrease in prosecutions. There were 344 prosecutions in 2023-24, compared to 691 in 2019-20, before the p…”

“ Moving on to the related issue of the compliance yield, obviously you have exceeded your target for the past year in the report and accounts, with £42 billion compared with your target of £40.5 billion. Do you think that HMRC will be able to sustain the increase in compliance yield over the next few years? Can we…”

“ I am glad to hear you say that.”

“ On the tax gap, quickly, what level of reduction do you think HMRC would regard as a success?”

“T8. Last Friday, I met GPs at the Fairhill medical practice in north Kingston in my constituency. They have told me that the increase in national insurance contributions will add £50,000 a year to their costs. Can the Secretary of State tell me whether GPs can expect to see an across-the-board cut in the NICs payable b…”