50. Mr. Rostron Duckworthasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what are the arrangements under which a decision is reached by the excise authorities as to whether any particular play is educational and can qualify for exemption 209 from entertainments duty; and whether he can give a list of plays which have been so approved during the first two months of this year?
§ Lieut.-Colonel ColvilleThe law governing the grant of exemption from entertainments duty on partly educational grounds provides that the Commissioners of Customs and Excise must satisfy themselves that the entertainment is provided for partly educational purposes by a society, institution, or committee not conducted or established for profit, and the Commissioners are advised that in considering claims to the exemption they must have regard, not merely to the particular work performed, but to the whole of the attendant circumstances. The compilation of a list such as my hon. Friend has in mind would thus not provide a list of plays which by their own nature qualify for exemption, and could not, I fear, serve any useful purpose.