To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate (a) the number of people who received and (b) the amount of income tax relief granted on pension contributions given to (i) basic rate taxpayers and (ii) higher rate taxpayers in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement. (79309)

Estimates of the annual cost of tax relief on private pensions are available on Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs website at:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/pensions/7_9_sep05.pdf.

We estimate that around 55 per cent. of tax relief on pension contributions is received by around 2.5 million higher rate taxpayers. But it is not possible to give a time series for this split by taxpayer band.