§ Mr. Bradfordasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will take steps to prevent access to newspapers funded from public funds being given to the Chief of Staff of the Provisional Irish Republican Army to expound the policies of that terrorist group.
228WOn the basis of the most recent figures available the adjusted thresholds would be as follows:
Rate of duty on values above threshold Thresholds Present Adjusted by BSA house price index* Adjusted by retail price index† £ £ £ ½ per cent. 15,000 23,800 28,900 1 per cent. 20,000 31,700 38,500 1½ per cent. 25,000 39,700 48,100 2 per cent. 30,000 47,600 57,800 * Adjustment based on the increase in the average price of dwellings between the second quarter of 1974 and the last quarter of 1978, derived from Building Societies Association/Department of Environment figures. † Adjustment based on the increase in the general index of retail prices between May 1974 and January 1979, the latest month for which the index figure has been published. No plans are in mind to regionalise rates and thresholds of stamp duty.
The only available information on property transactions relates to sales of residential property in England and Wales in October 1973, October 1974, November 1975, November 1976 and November 1977 and is set out in the table below. Information for November 1978 has been collected and is being processed, but estimates based on this are not yet available.
§ Mr. CarterI shall reply to the hon. Member as soon as possible.