§ Mr. Thurnhamasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will examine the circumstances in which self-employed taxpayers can profit from investing in the business expansion scheme when the investments themselves prove worthless; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MooreIncome tax relief is available to any individual, including someone who is self-employed, who invests in new full risk equity of a qualifying company
392Wensure that full advantage is taken of developments in new technology where these can be used to improve efficiency. Output measures from a pilot system will be used to evaluate the full scheme.
In addition to overseeing the development of the financial management initiative centrally with the Cabinet Office (MPO), the Treasury has reviewed its internal financial management and is effecting the improvements set out in Cmnd 9058—pages 116–18. A progress report is included in the recent White Paper (Cmnd 9297). Improvements include the development of a top management system for the more systematic consideration of work and resources across the Department; devolving control of costs where it can best be dealt with in the line; setting up a new computerised management information system to enable accurate and timely reports on costs to all levels of management; and in operational areas — in particular CISCO and the Chessington computer centre — the improvement and extension of performance indicators.