To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many changes of the law have been necessitated by inadvertent errors introduced as a result of the tax rewrite project. (130056)

The Tax Law Rewrite Project has to date produced four Acts—The Capital Allowances Act 2001 (CAA), The Income Tax Earnings and Pension Act 2003 (ITEPA), The Income Tax Trading and Other Income Act 2005 (ITTOIA) and the Income Tax Act 2007 (ITA). These Acts cover more than 2000 pages of legislation.

Nine errors in CAA and eighteen errors in ITEPA were corrected in the Finance Acts 2001 and 2004 respectively.

Four errors in each of ITTOIA and ITA have been corrected using Order-making powers contained in those Acts.

In a number of these cases the corrections have the effect of making the law explicit, rather than changing its substantive effect.