Written question asked by Ian Pearson (Labour) on Monday, 18 December 2000, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 21 December 2000. It was answered by Baroness Primarolo (Labour) on Thursday, 21 December 2000 on behalf of the Treasury.

Treasury

Question: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will estimate the cost of providing capital allowances for IT assets, using the definition of IT used in the Finance Act 2000, leased by SMEs, with first year allowances at 100 per cent., over a five year period; and if he will set out the basis used in the costing; if he will estimate the cost of providing capital allowances for assets bought or leased by SMEs, with first year allowances at 100 per cent., over a five year period; and if he will set out the basis used in the costing; if he will estimate the cost of providing capital allowances for assets leased by SMEs, with first year allowances at (a) 40 per cent. and (b) 100 per cent., over a five year period; and if he will set out the basis used in the costing. - Including ref information not available.

Answer: Mr. Pearson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the cost of providing capital allowances (1) for IT assets, using the definition of IT used in the Finance Act 2000, leased by SMEs, with first year allowances at 100 per cent., over a five-year period; and if he will set out the basis used in the costing; [143792] (2) for assets bought or leased by SMEs, with first year allowances at 100 per cent., over a five-year period; and if he will set out the basis used in the costing; [143791] (3) for assets leased by SMEs, with first year allowances at (a) 40 per cent. and (b) 100 per cent., over a five-year period; and if he will set out the basis used in the costing. [143790] Dawn Primarolo: The Government regret that information on the level of expenditure on assets leased by small and medium-sized enterprises is not available.

Secondary information