§ Mr. DafisTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will now make it his policy to allow public access to information on successful applications for conditional inheritance tax exemption where the conditions referred to within the application refer to public access to land.
§ Mr. DorrellReasonable public access is required to all scenic land which is conditionally exempt from inheritance tax. The heritage advisory agencies, including the Countryside Council for Wales, can supply information about public access to heritage land including conditionally exempt land. To protect taxpayers' confidentiality, the conditionally exempt land cannot be separately distinguished.
§ Mr. DafisTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to overturn conditional exemptions from inheritance tax payments where it has been proved that the conditions set out concerning public access have not been fulfilled.
§ Mr. DorrellThe undertakings providing for public access to land and buildings which have been conditionally exempted from inheritance tax are monitored by the relevant heritage advisory agencies. Where breaches cannot be resolved in discussion between the agencies and landowners, the agencies will notify the Inland Revenue. To date, there has been no occasion on which they have had to do this. Undertakings providing for public access to conditionally exempt chattels are monitored directly by the Inland Revenue.
If an owner refuses to observe any undertakings given in respect of conditional exemption, inheritance tax is charged on the current value of the property. This provides a powerful incentive for the owner to honour the terms of the undertakings.
§ Mr. DafisTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to ensure that all public rights of way granted as part of conditional exemptions from inheritance tax appear on subsequent editions of ordnance survey maps.
§ Mr. DorrellDefinitive public rights of way which result from the conditional exemption from inheritance tax of scenic land will appear on subsequent Ordnance Survey maps. Decisions on what other paths or forms of public access are shown on the maps are a matter for the chief executive of Ordnance Survey.
§ Mr. DafisTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make it his policy to apply the definition of public access outlined in the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 when evaluating applications for inheritance tax exemptions under the Inheritance Tax Act 1984.
§ Mr. DorrellNo. The heritage advisory agencies advise the Inland Revenue as to what constitutes reasonable 357W public access to land for which conditional exemption from inheritance tax is claimed. The access arrangements for each case are considered individually on the basis of its own facts. Adopting the approach in the 1949 Act would allow the landowner to deny public access in some circumstances where it is currently sought in return for the conditional inheritance tax exemption.
§ Mr. DafisTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state for each year since 1986, in Wales,(a) the number of successful applications for conditional exemption from inheritance tax, (b) the number of such applications related to land and (c) the minimum total estimated value of such land.
§ Mr. DorrellThe number of designations for conditional exemption from inheritance tax of all types of heritage property in Wales could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Since 1976 there have been five successful applications for conditional exemption of heritage land in Wales. Where conditional exemption from inheritance tax is granted it is not necessary to establish the value of the land.