§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Hammersmith, (Mr. Soley) on 14 June,Official Report, column 147–48, what is (a) his estimate of the regional distribution of mortgage interest relief within the stated income hands, (b) the comparable figures for 1985–86, (c) his estimate of the percentage of tax units within each income band who receive mortgage interest relief, (d) his estimate of the percentage of tax units within each income band who are owner occupiers nor in receipt of mortgage interest relief, (e) his estimate of the median, and (f) the average value of mortgage interest relief in each income band, and in cases (d), (e) and (f) the comparable figures on a regional basis for 1985–86.
§ Mr. Norman LamontFollowing the introduction of MIRAS in April 1983, regional information on the cost of mortgage interest relief cannot be extracted from Inland Revenue records. The regional distribution of mortgage interest can be estimated from the family expenditure survey (FES) hut, as the sample size for the FES is relatively small it is not possible to provide robust estimates after 1982–83.
The other information for 1987–88 is given in the table. These estimates are based on projections to 1987–88 of information in the 1985–86 survey of personal incomes and the 1985 family expenditure survey. The estimates include mortgages formerly under the option mortgage scheme which are now subsumed within MIRAS. All estimates are provisional.
519W
Number 1979 42,300 1980 40,400 1981 40,700 1982 38,900 1983 37,800 1984 35,400 1985 33,400
Number 1986 33,100 1987 33,600 Servicewide regional statistics for April 1988 are not yet available.