§ Mr. Michael BrownTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has any proposals to amend the definition of a group of companies for capital gains purposes.
§ Mr. LilleyWe are proposing to include one technical change to the capital gains definition of a group in the 1990 Finance Bill. This is to prevent a company being treated as leaving a group when arrangements are entered into under which rights to profits or assets may be reduced at a future date. We propose that in general the change should be effective from Budget day 1989, when the present definition of a group took effect. But groups will be able to elect for the change to apply only from midnight tonight.