Acceptances in Lieu of Tax (Hansard, 26 July 1985)

§ Mr. Waldegrave

As my right hon. and noble Friend the Minster for the Arts indicated in another place on 24 April, the Government have looked again at the arrangements whereby provision for acceptance in lieu is carried on the votes of the OAL and DOE. We have concluded that a basic provision of £2 million a year for acceptance in lieu should continue as at present, for the ordinary run of smaller cases. But recognising the difficulty of absorbing the unpredictable cost of large and important offers within a fixed annual provision, we intend in future that there should be recourse to the pubic expenditure Reserve, over and above the basic acceptance in lieu provision, for such cases when this is justified on merits.

The continuance of the basic provision does not indicate an absolute limit on what may be accepted in any one year. The Government will therefore also give the most serious consideration to all offers made, where they cannot be funded from the basic provision, provided that in the judgment of heritage Ministers and their expert advisers the heritage items on offer are of national importance so that a call on the Reserve may be merited. It will therefore be possible to accommodate these items in future without imposing an offsetting reduction in or detriment to the rest of the arts budget.

It is not possible to give an exact estimate of what might be accepted on such a basis in any one year, as too many unpredictables are involved. Looking simply at recent and current levels of acceptance in lieu offers, we would expect to call on the Reserve for around £10 million or so a year, taking one year with another. My right hon. and noble Friend emphasises strongly that this is an estimate; it is neither a target nor a limit, as in any given year the demand could be either less or more. He believes however that this arrangement will allow the intentions of the acceptance in lieu scheme to be given proper effect.