Miss Melanie Johnson (Economic Secretary, HM Treasury; Welwyn Hatfield, Labour)

I beg to move amendment No. 31, in page 194, line 8, at end insert—

`(2) In section 57(2) of the Capital Allowances Act 2001 (available qualifying expenditure in pool includes amounts allocated to pool under specified provisions), before the entry for section 165(3) insert—

``section 161C(2) (decommissioning expenditure incurred by person carrying on trade of oil extraction);''.'.

The purpose of the amendment is to remedy a drafting error, which was brought to our attention by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales following publication of the Finance Bill. Schedule 20 introduces, among other things, proposed new section 161C to the Capital Allowances Act 2001. Subsection (2) of that new section provides that decommissioning expenditure is to be added to the appropriate pool for capital allowances purposes. However, that is not sufficient to ensure that the expenditure attracts capital allowances. A consequential amendment should have been made to section 57(2) of that Act, to add proposed new section 161C to the list of sections under which expenditure added to the pool becomes ``available qualifying expenditure'' for the purposes of capital allowances. The amendment rectifies that omission.

Amendment agreed to.

Schedule 20, as amended, agreed to.

Clause 69 ordered to stand part of the Bill.