To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many inheritance tax valuations were challenged by the Valuation Office Agency in each of the last three years.

The number of inheritance tax cases in which the valuations submitted by taxpayers were adjusted following a challenge by the Valuation Office Agency was 3,644 in 2008-09, 5,783 in 2007-08 and 6,318 in 2006-07. The Agency's caseworkers are required to act in an impartial manner and only challenge valuations where it is considered that the figure adopted by the parties is not supported by market evidence. The fluctuations in these figures reflect changes in the total volume of cases.