§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he has made any assessment of the effects of imposing value added tax on building alterations for the purpose of helping disabled people; and if he has any plans for removing value added tax on these building alterations and on charities.
§ Mr. LawsonWhen building alterations were brought into the tax last year I thought it right to relieve some building alterations to suit the needs of the disabled. These limited reliefs related to access and toilets and bathrooms and were widely welcomed. I know there is pressure to go much further, but the cost of extending these limited reliefs to cover all building alterations for the disabled would be prohibitive. Accordingly, I have no plans to allow such a wide relief, nor to remove VAT on expenditure by charities.
§ Mr. Alfred Morrisasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the total value added tax bill on charities in 1984; how much of this was attributable to the imposition of value added tax on building alterations; and how much in total was raised in value added tax from organisations of and for disabled people.
524WTyne and Wear, (c) Newcastle upon Tyne and (d) Surrey: (i) in total and (ii) as a percentage of all persons aged 18 years living in each of the respective areas.
§ Mr. WaldenThe readily available information is based on the number of new award-holders at United Kingdom universities. It is not possible to distinguish those who are aged 18 from this source.
§ Mr. LawsonInformation about the amounts of value added tax borne by charities is not available from official records and could only be collected at disproportionate cost.