§ Mr. Gareth Wardellasked the Secretary of State for Energy when he expects to announce his decision on the building of a nuclear power station at Sizewell.
§ Mr. GoodladThe Sizewell B inquiry inspector has told my right hon. Friend that he hopes to deliver his report in September. My right hon. Friend then intends to reach his decision as soon as he possibly can.
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§ Mr. Frank Fieldasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will detail the value of mortgage interest relief at the latest available date, giving the average relief per mortgagor, the numbers claiming relief, the total value of relief and the total number of taxpayers per income range for those with incomes under £3,000, £3,000 to £5,000, £5,000 to £7,500, £7,500 to £10,000, £10,000 to £15,000, £15,000 to £20,000, £20,000 to £25,000 and above £25,000.
§ Mr. Moore[pursuant to his replies, 20 January, 14 February and 7 March 1986]: I regret the delay in providing this information. The latest estimates are given in the table. Following the introduction of the arrangements for giving mortgage interest relief at source from April 1983, it is no longer possible to estimate the distribution of mortgage interest relief from tax records (except for relief on mortgages outside the scope of MIRAS and relief given at rates in excess of the basic rate). The information by income range in the table is based on projections to 1985–86 of information in the 1983 family expenditure survey and the 1983–84 survey of personal incomes. The estimates include mortgages formerly under the option mortgage scheme (now subsumed under MIRAS). All estimates are provisional.
Due to small sample sizes some of the income ranges requested have been combined.