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Finance (No. 2) Bill

I thank the hon. Member for Rayleigh (Mr. Francois) for his speech, a large part of which was thoughtful, although he will not be surprised to learn that I disagree with much of what he said. If clause 61 passes into law, computers provided for use at home solely for business purposes will continue to be allowed, and I shall return to that point. The hon. Gentleman accepts that times change. The Paymaster General has said that the take-up rate for the HCI scheme in the first four years after its introduction in 1999 was 29 per cent. and that it then fell to 4 per cent., which shows the operation of the law of diminishing returns. I know that the hon. Gentleman was not a Member of the House in 1999, but I strongly suspect that his party failed to support the HCI when it was introduced and when it was reviewed in 2003—he can correct me on that point, if I am wrong. He, along with the hon. Member for Mid-Worcestershire (Peter Luff), now supports the HCI, and the thrust of his speech seemed to be that times change and that the scheme has reached lift-off. It is true that times change, but we must put the matter into context, which the hon. Gentleman addressed only at the beginning and end of his speech when he discussed India, China and globalisation. He issued a challenge to the House, which I shall answer. The hon. Gentleman, and most Conservative Members in the Chamber, want to retain the HCI, because it is an attempt to upskill our society. The Government have spent a huge amount of taxpayers’ money on trying to upskill our society, and they continue to do so. I will not reel off the figures, because we have all heard them, but Labour Members agree that that spending was certainly correct, whereas Conservative Members are somewhat divided. For example, the educational maintenance allowance was piloted in my constituency, and, although I cannot prove it, I posit as cause and effect the fact that staying on rates at 16 greatly increased. That measure involved investing a lot of money in a long-term process of upskilling our economy, which is the context in which we need to understand the HCI. The hon. Gentleman mentioned the trade union learning fund. I served in the Committee that considered that legislation, where Conservative Members opposed it. The trade union learning fund has been very successful as part of a mosaic of measures to upskill our economy. The HCI was part of that mosaic, and the Government now say that they would rather that other things were part of it, too. As far as I am aware, the HCI did not cover students or pensioners, unless they happened to be in paid employment. As part of the mosaic of upskilling, the Government have been pouring computers into schools. All hon. Members visit schools in their constituencies—I am sure that you have done so in the west midlands, Mrs. Heal—where interactive white boards have been installed, many teachers have been provided with laptops, and increased numbers of computers have been made available to pupils. Indeed, some schools in Wolverhampton are successfully piloting the use of personal digital assistants—I do not know whether PDAs fall within the category of computers, because, as my hon. Friend the Member for North Swindon (Mr. Wills) has said, technology moves on so quickly. Shortly before the Budget, the hon. Member for Rayleigh asked about support for the scheme by the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Trade and Industry. However, the Budget included a lot more money for education, and what is known in the vernacular as ““Brown money”” consists of money that goes directly to schools—from memory an average secondary school can receive up to £198,000 in the following financial year. It is surprising that the hon. Gentleman has suggested that the abolition of the HCI is simply an act of desperation by the Chancellor, because the Budget included far more extra money for education, which affects skills both directly and indirectly, than will be saved by the abolition of the HCI. The further education White Paper was produced at the beginning of March, and adult learning grants allow people to upskill to level 2 and under-25s to upskill to level 3. The HCI was part of that mosaic of upskilling. Whether Conservative Members like it or not, those taking advantage of the HCI disproportionately consisted of higher-rate taxpayers. As my hon. Friend the Member for North Durham (Mr. Jones) has pointed out, that is not the case in absolute numbers, but it is true proportionally. In round terms, higher-rate taxpayers make up about 10 per cent. of taxpayers, but they made up 25 per cent. of those who benefited from the scheme. That is not to say that we should abolish the scheme just because higher-rate taxpayers benefited disproportionately, but it is worth bearing that point in mind against the backdrop of where the Government want to go on skills provision. We must consider the HCI in that context.