asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimates have been made by his Department of the amount of Revenue staff time taken by the need to vary coding notices because of the present operation of the income limit for age allowance.

The staff time spent on work resulting from the income limit for age allowance is equivalent to some 150 full-time staff.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the total number of coding notices issued each year and the total number of taxpayers, or potential taxpayers, to whom they are issued.

The Inland Revenue keeps no record of the number of coding notices issued each year. There are approximately 27 million taxpayers subject to PAYE and normally only those whose code numbers require adjustment by the Inland Revenue to take account of changed circumstances receive notices.