HC Deb 13 March 1991 vol 187 c547W
Mr. Ian Taylor

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many companies have set up employee share ownership plans on a case law basis; what was the comparable figure for two years ago; and what are the values attributable to both sets of figures.

Mr. Maude

I regret that the information is not available centrally.

Mr. Ian Taylor

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many companies have taken advantage of the Finance Act 1989 to set up qualifying employee share ownership trusts.

Mr. Maude

The Inland Revenue may 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.

Mr. Ian Taylor

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he is taking to promote employee share ownership and employee share ownership trusts.

Mr. Maude

The Government are committed to promoting employee share ownership, as our record of legislation in 11 out of the last 12 Budgets testifies. We shall continue to examine sympathetically the various proposals made for improvements in this area, to see how far they are capable of building on the impressive progress already achieved.