§ Mr. William Powellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many firm proposals have been received by the Inland Revenue for the establishment of new business enterprise scheme companies to take advantage of the provisions on ship chartering introduced in the Finance Act 1986; and how many have gone ahead.
§ Mr. Norman LamontCompanies raising finance under the business expansion scheme obtain approval from local tax offices and no central record of proposals is kept. Statistics are collected once investment has been made and a formal application by the company approved. No information on companies engaged in ship chartering is yet available.