§ Lord Brougham and Vauxasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they intend to make any changes to the method by which they compensate health authorities for the application of VAT to construction work.
Paymaster General (The Earl of Caithness)The Government have decided to compensate health authorities for the application of VAT to their construction work through matching increases in public expenditure. From 1st April 1990 health authorities will no longer be eligible under Section 11 of the Finance Act 1984 for refunds of VAT paid on construction contracts. The extra capital provision necessary to ensure that health authority building programmes are not prejudiced by the application of VAT will be granted to the NHS in supplementary estimates for 1990–91 to be presented in due course in another place.