---

Finance (No. 2) Bill

The information comes from the industry. The hon. Gentleman interrupted me rather early on in my remarks. I was certainly not saying that nobody had benefited from the HCI scheme. The case that the Government are putting is that the benefits have slowed down to a point at which the growth is very small. In particular, it is not targeted on the remaining groups that we need to assist—those on low pay. I was just about to turn to that point. Last month, the Low Pay Commission published the findings of its review of benefits in kind, salary sacrifice schemes and the accommodation offset. It found that take-up rates were often quite low and many part-time low-paid workers would gain no advantage from salary sacrifice schemes for home computers and other benefits in kind. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs has evidence that, unfortunately, the tax exemption was being used beyond the scope of its original intention. On the one hand, the initiative has reached a number of people and has increased usage. On the other hand, however, it is not targeted particularly at the low paid and its effectiveness has been slowing down, and, in addition, it is being used beyond its original intention. For example, the HCI packages included items such as game consoles and MP3 players and allowed employees to buy equipment out of their gross pay, rather than borrow it. Furthermore, the cost of computer equipment has fallen markedly since 1999 when—