§ Mr. Chris SmithTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what is the distribution by(a) size and (b) sector of firms with employer stock ownership plans;
(2) what is the number of employer stock ownership plans and employee share ownership trusts that have been set up in each of the last five years; how many employees are involved; and how much less corporation tax has been paid as a result.
§ Mr. LilleyThe Inland Revenue will not learn of the establishment of employee share ownership trusts of the kind defined in the Finance Act 1989 until claims for the tax relief provided by that legislation are received. Such claims may be made up to two years after the end of the period of account in which the relevant company contributions are made. None has yet been cleared.
I regret that information is not available on the extent and character of other arrangements which are also commonly, though imprecisely, known as employee share ownership plans.
As regards the operation of the 1,603 all-employee share schemes approved by the Inland Revenue up to 5 April 1989, however, some 2 million employees had been given shares or options over shares with an initial market value of some £5 billion by that date. Other information on these schemes is published in "Inland Revenue Statistics 1989".