§ Mr. Charles WardleTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy if he will make a statement about the working of the Gas Levy Act.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThe Gas Levy Act 1981 was amended in 1986 when British Gas plc succeeded the British Gas Corporation. It has recently come to light that these amendments, contained in the Gas Act 1986, did not achieve the precise results intended at the time the legislation was taken. The intention was to ensure that British Gas were treated for gas levy purposes as if they were the same person as the gas corporation. However, the detailed amendments in schedule 6 to the 1986 Act brought into account a number of categories of gas which were not previously subject to the levy because they had never been included in the gas corporation's contracts. The Government will take the opportunity of the 1990 Finance Bill to rectify the situation. In the meantime my Department will continue to collect the levy in line with the intentions of the 1986 amendments.