§ Mr. Strawasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Inland Revenue make it its practice, in assessing the tax liability of a private company which has disposed of assets to a nationalised undertaking or publicly-owned company, to discover the extent to which such a disposal has reduced the tax liability of the nationalised undertaking or publicly-owned company concerned and the aggregate amount involved.
§ Mr. Ridley[pursuant to his reply, 29 July 1982]: Unless tax avoidance is suspected, it is normally not necessary in assessing the tax liability of a company disposing of an asset to consider the tax implications for the person acquiring the asset. This is the position whether the asset is disposed of to a company within the public or the private sector.