To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much revenue has been raised from (a) pensioners and (b) pensioners over the age of 75 arising from taxation of private medical insurance provided by their previous employers since April 2006. (113953)

As part of a radical simplification of the taxation of registered pension schemes the Finance Act 2004 made changes to the taxation of benefits, such as private medical insurance, provided after retirement outside of a registered pension scheme. A regulatory impact assessment (“Regulatory Impact Assessment for Simplifying the taxation of pensions—Update”) was published on 22 March 2006 setting out the Government's assessment of the impact of pensions simplification. This is available at:

www.hmrc.gov.uk/ria/ria-pensions-simplification.pdf.

The Government estimate that pensions simplification will have an overall cost to the Exchequer building up to £250 million per year.