§ Mr. Staintonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will publish in the Official Report the letter from Lord Cockfield to the hon. Member for Sudbury and Woodbridge of 9 November arising out of the judgment in Inland Revenue v. Helen Slater Charitable Trust.
§ Mr. Ridley[pursuant to the reply, 15 December 1981, c. 98–99]: The letter referred to by my hon. Friend is reproduced below:
You wrote to me on 13 October enclosing this copy of a further letter from your constituent.I really do not feel I can add to what I said in my reply of 16 September. Clearly the law in this area will need to be most carefully considered in the light of the judgment in the recent case of Inland Revenue Commissioners v. Helen Slater Charitable Trust Ltd, but I cannot say at this stage whether there are likely to be any proposals for amendment. As I indicated in my earlier reply, the Inland Revenue are concerned that the law should be clear and unambiguous; there can be no question of leaving it, either now or after any further legislation, in such a state as to make life impossible for grant-awarding charities.I hope this further letter will allay any anxieties which your constituent may still have about the matter.