To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many overpayments resulted from tax credit office error in each year since 2003; and of these how many are deemed recoverable. (163506)

I refer the hon. Member to the evidence given to the Treasury Select Committee on 14 March 2007 in response to my hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, Central (Jim Cousins).

HM Revenue and Customs has been collecting information on official error in disputed overpayment cases since April 2007. For the first part of 2007-08 the proportion of cases with an element of official error remains at around 5 per cent. Of the official error cases identified, more than three quarters have had their overpayment remitted.