§ Mr. LoughtonTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect on sales of home insulation materials covered by local authority grant schemes of changes to the VAT rate in the last Budget. [74067]
§ Ms Hewitt[holding answer 2 March 1999]: The extension of the reduced rate of VAT to certain grant funded installations of energy saving materials will have allowed more installations to be carried out within existing budgets.
Customs and Excise are currently assessing the effect of the change to the VAT rate, and have already written to a number of local authorities, trade bodies and grant providers seeking their views.