Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether large numbers of the public are unable to get through to HM Revenue and Customs by telephone to obtain help with their tax inquiries; and, if so, what steps they are taking to address this.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) accepts that its performance was inconsistent during 2014-15 and it has recently outlined actions taken to improve customer service. These include recruitment of additional staff and investment in new technology.

HMRC has allocated £45 million, supporting the recruitment of an additional 3,000 customer service staff to answer calls and deal with customer correspondence. The department is also moving around 2,000 additional people from other parts of HMRC temporarily into customer service roles to support the tax credits peak.

Details of HMRC telephony performance, including average waiting time, is published quarterly on GOV.UK.