§ 49. Mr. du Cannasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the number of retirement benefit schemes which have been approved by the Inland Revenue under Sections 379 and 388, respectively, of the Income Tax Act, 1952, during each of the last five years and during each month of 1956 to the latest convenient date.
§ The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Mr. Henry Brooke)As the Answer contains a number of figures, I will, with permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Mr. du CannWhile thanking the Financial Secretary for that information, which I shall read tomorrow morning, may I ask him to be good enough to say under which section the greater number of schemes have been approved, first during recent months and secondly during recent weeks?
§ Mr. BrookeI am afraid that I could not give an answer about recent weeks. If my hon. Friend would read the fairly extensive figures with which I am providing him and would then write to me, I would certainly endeavour early during the Recess to give him further information.
Following is the Answer:I regret that figures in the precise form asked for could not be extracted without a disproportionate expenditure of time and labour. The nearest figures available are given below.
| Schemes approved under Section 379. Income Tax Act, 1952 | ||
| Year to 30th September, 1951 | … | 458 |
| Year to 30th September, 1952 | … | 576 |
| Year to 30th September, 1953 | … | 455 |
| Year to 30th September, 1954 | … | 404 |
| Year to 30th September, 1955 | … | 331 |
| 10 months to 31st July, 1956 | … | 355 |
§ Schemes within Chapter 11 of Part XVII, Income Tax Act, 1952
§ The following figures include both (i) schemes approved under Section 388 (1) and (ii) schemes brought to the notice of the inland Revenue which, though of a similar pattern, do not require such approval, usually because the employer is not a body corporate. The latter are thought to represent a small proportion of each total.
| Schemes of the funded type to which Section 386 (1) relates | ||
| … | Group Schemes Schemes relating to named individuals | |
| Year to 30th September, 1951 | 3051 | |
| Year to 30th September, 1952 | 2520 | 3594 |
| Year to 30th September, 1953 | 2637 | 5255 |
| Year to 30th September, 1954 | 2285 | 5089 |
| Year to 30th September, 1955 | 2699 | 6967 |
| 10 months to 31st July, 1956 | 2263 | 5562 |
§ Under none of the above headings are separate monthly totals available.