§ Mr. BlunkettTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what consideration he has given to the implications for health boards of the imposition of air passenger duty.
§ Mr. Stewart[holding answer 10 December 1993]: There are exemptions to the new excise duty announced by the Chancellor in the Budget statement. The new excise duty applies only in respect of fare paying passengers and does not apply to air ambulances for emergency cases. Health boards do not make many arrangements for non-emergency patients to be carried on fare-paying scheduled flights. Most importantly for Scotland aircraft of under 10 tonnes take-off weight or seating under 20 passengers are exempt. In practice this will exclude many of the inter-island flights.
The implications for health boards would therefore be minimal and would be more than offset by the 4.5 per cent. increase in funding for the NHS in Scotland which my right hon. Friend has announced for the next financial year.