§ Mr. Patrick Jenkinasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what would be the revenue lost to the Exchequer if the mobility allowance ceased to be taxable showing separately the figure assuming no increase in uptake, and the figure assuming that one quarter of existing tricycle users switched to mobility allowance.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonOn the basis that 100,000 beneficiaries will be in receipt of mobility allowance by the end of 1979, the full year loss of revenue if the allowance of £10 per week ceased to be taxable would be about £12 million.
It is expected that slightly less than half of the approximately 55,000 National Health Service vehicle scheme beneficiaries will switch to mobility allowance, and the further loss of revenue if their allowances were untaxed would be about £3 million.
§ Mr. David Priceasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on the basis of the information given by the Government Actuary in Command Paper No. 7091, what would be the estimated cost in a full year of making the mobility allowance tax-free to all the 100,000 beneficiaries expected to be receiving the allowance by the end of March 1979.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonI would refer the hon. Member to the reply given today to the right hon. Member for Wanstead and Woodford (Mr. Jenkin).