§ John BarrettTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) pursuant to the answer of 30 March 2004,Official Report, columns 1350–51W, on Gift Aid, how many responses his Department received to the original consultation that followed the pre-Budget report; [166990]
(2) whether an assessment was made of the additional income that would be raised from the proposed changes to Gift Aid rules on clay memberships, based on the responses received from charities in the original consultation that followed the pre-Budget report. [166991]
§ John HealeyInland Revenue received 57 responses during the original consultation period. These came from charities, representative bodies and associations and other interested parties.
Tax reclaimed on so called "day memberships" using the Gift Aid scheme is not differentiated from tax reclaimed on other Gift Aid donations, so it is not possible to estimate the saving to the Exchequer of ending Gift Aid on admission charges. Information supplied during the original consultation would not enable an assessment to be made. However, the purpose of this measure is not revenue-raising, but is about maintaining the principles of Gift Aid as a scheme designed to encourage donations to charity.