§ Mr. Mallalieuasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if, for the purposes of his policy on tax evasion, he will seek to ascertain how many companies have been registered in the Isle of Man from 1970 to the nearest convenient date; how this figure compares with the figure for the previous four years; and how many of such companies had previously been registered elsewhere.
§ Dr. GilbertNeither the Inland Revenue nor the Department of Trade keeps records of Isle of Man company registrations. I will certainly look for any144W information which it is practicable to get if it will help to prevent tax avoidance or evasion, but I do not think that the sort of statistics mentioned by my hon. Friend would of themselves contribute to this end.