§ Mr. MeacherTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage on what criteria the English tourist board made a grant of £200,000 to Unicorn Heritage plc.
498Wand (b) the relevant time limit; and whether a press notice will be issued by his Department covering the information given in his reply, including that relating to the outcome in individual cases.
§ Mr. SproatThe information is as follows:
ended 31 December 1993 of individual works of art and museum objects pre-eminent for national, scientific, historic or artistic interest which have been accepted in satisfaction of inheritance tax, together with information, where applicable, as to conditions or wishes expressed in the matter of allocation by testators or executors; and if he will list the works of art and museum objects which are still awaiting allocation, with the respective dates of their acceptance in satisfaction of inheritance tax.
§ Mr. BrookeThe information the hon. Member requests is as follows:
§ Mr. SproatIn considering the application from Unicorn Heritage plc, the English tourist board applied its standard criteria for making grants under section 4 of the Development of Tourism Act 1969. These were as follows: the grant must be additional—that is, the project would not go ahead without the section 4 grant; there should be a clear market need for the project, and reasonable prospects for its success; the project should where possible be innovative; and the section 4 grant should constitute only a small proportion of the total funding.
The English tourist board commissioned a report on the Unicorn Heritage project from consultants with particular expertise in developing visitor attractions. Drawing on this 499W report and its own assessment, the board concluded that the project met the section 4 criteria. Unicorn Heritage was treated in exactly the same way as any other company would be in such circumstances.
Mr. Alan WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage on what date his Department was notified of the demise of Unicorn Heritage plc; on what date it was recognised that a grant was reclaimable; on what date it started action to recover the grant; what form that action took; how many months it took to refer the file to the Treasury; and what were the reasons for the time taken to refer the file.
§ Mr. Sproat[holding answer 17 January 1994]: The grant referred to was made by the English tourist board. The board has discretion to secure payment of any grant if the grant recipient becomes bankrupt or, in the case of a company, is wound up. The board was notified of the failure of the Unicorn Heritage plc shortly after the company went into liquidation on 25 June 1990. On 11 September 1990 the board agreed to raise a debt of £200,000, and proof of debt was submitted to the liquidators. On 12 October 1990 the liquidators replied stating that there was no prospect of any payment of any dividend to the board.
The board kept the case open for some time because of the remote possibility that an unexpected dividend might have been forthcoming as the liquidators' work proceeded. This did not prove to be the case, so on 13 August 1992 the English tourist board recommended to my Department that this debt should be written off.