Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the (a) Office for Budget Responsibility and (b) National Audit Office have been given access to the internal HM Revenue and Customs modelling which underpinned the analysis of the economic and fiscal impact of the reforms to defined contribution pension schemes in the July 2014 and July 2015 budget statements.

a) At Budget 2014, the Government announced it will allow those with a defined contribution pension to draw down from it after age 55 from April 2015, subject to their marginal rate of income tax.

At Summer Budget 2015, the Government announced a cut in pensions tax relief for high earners by introducing a tapered annual allowance for those with incomes (including the value of pension contributions) of over £150,000.

The Budget policy costings documents set out the assumptions and methodologies underlying costings for tax policy decisions.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/295067/PU1638_policy_costings_bud_2014_with_correction_slip.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/443195/Policy_costings_summer_budget_2015.pdf

All costings in these documents have been scrutinised and certified by the Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR). This is in line with the Memorandum of Understanding between the OBR, HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

b) The National Audit Office audits HMRC’s financial statements, the adequacy of its revenue collection systems and the value for money it achieved from its spending. This is published as part of HMRC’s 2014-15 annual report: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/hmrc-annual-report-and-accounts-2014-to-2015