§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many (a) male and (b) female employees are known to the Inland Revenue to be benefiting from their employer providing (i) a company car, (ii) an occupational health scheme, (iii) subsidised meals at work, (iv) financial help with school fees, telephone bills, wages of chauffeurs, gardeners and other domestic staff and (v) nursery facilities for their children; and what revenue is obtained by the Exchequer from taxing each of these benefits either wholly or partly.
§ Mr. Lawson[pursuant to his reply, 21 February 1985, c. 571]: I regret that the information requested is not available for all the benefits listed and that it is not possible to provide separate figures for male and female employees. The available information — which includes directors—is as follows:
It is estimated that there are about 1½ million company cars available for private use by directors and employees. Of these about 1.1 million attract a charge to tax under the special rules for taxing benefits-in-kind in the hands of directors and those employees currently earning at a rate of £8,500 a year or more. The tax yield for 1984–85—including the yield from taxing free fuel for private motoring—is estimated to be abut £330 million.
148WApproximately 625,000 people have premiums for medical insurance paid for by their employers. Of these, about 425,000 are directors and employees within the scope of the special rules for taxing benefits-in-kind. The tax yield for 1984–85 is estimated at about £20 million.
The benefit of employer subsidised canteen is exempt from charge by section 62(7) of the Finance Act 1971, provided that the benefit is available to employees generally.