§ LORD JACQUESMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the second Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether it is their policy to discourage specialist industrial catering by selective employment tax in the many cases where the manufacturer has found that contracting for such a service was the most efficient way of meeting the needs of his employees.]
323§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, there are clearly advantages to manufacturers in using special services of all kinds. If the noble Lord knows of any cases where S.E.T. has induced manufacturers to take them over themselves, I shall be glad to have details.
§ LORD JACQUESMy Lords, I thank my noble friend for his answer. I shall be very pleased to produce the evidence.
§ LORD WYNNE-JONESMy Lords, is my noble friend aware that while many of us regard selective employment tax as a very useful form of taxation, the indiscriminate way in which it is often employed seems to be against the whole idea of selective employment?
§ LORD BESWICKMy Lords, a selective employment tax is not an indiscriminate employment tax. But I accept from my noble friend that all the difficulties and criticisms which arise about this lax really stem from the distinction that is made between one form of activity and another. It is not the tax itself but its selectivity. That is the sort of question into which the Reddaway Inquiry will go.