§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of(a) the number and (b) the percentages of items on the register of conditionally exempt works of art for which (i) the location other than the county is not specified and (ii) the listed telephone number is incorrect. [18494]
§ Mr. JackAll items in the register of conditionally exempt works of art are shown only by their broad location, usually the county, to take account of owners' concern for the security of the exempted items. The requested information about the listed telephone numbers is not available.
The Inland Revenue monitors the operation of the exemption and the register by carrying out an annual sample audit of the exempted objects and by writing to owners every five years. The Inland Revenue's press release, issued with each quarterly update of the register, invites members of the public to write to the capital taxes office, Nottingham, if there is any difficulty in making satisfactory arrangements to view exempted objects. The capital taxes office has no evidence yet of any difficulties in practice.
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