Clause 53 - Tax relief for expenditure on vaccine research etc
Finance Bill
9:30 am
Mr Michael Jack (Fylde, Conservative)
Good morning, Mr. Gale, and welcome again to the Chair. As it looks likely that the Government will find their way to obtaining the Committee's approval on the clause and the schedule, I shall probe the Financial Secretary further about the choice of the qualifying activities as defined in paragraph 4 of schedule 13. Paragraph 4(4) clearly states that
''references to vaccines or medicines are to vaccines or medicines for use in humans.''
The Financial Secretary will be aware that many infections that pose risks to animals subsequently, for economic reasons, pose risks to humans. Indeed, in the case of bovine tuberculosis there is a potential direct risk to humans. He will also be aware of the intense debate during the recent outbreak of foot and mouth disease about the particular role that so-called smart vaccines might play in that context.
In the less-developed world, foot and mouth disease is endemic. I do not want to trespass too far on to a debate about animal diseases, but I hope that I have illustrated that there is a case to be made for giving assistance to the development of appropriate medicines and vaccines to counteract animal diseases, particularly in the context of the less-developed world. Foot and mouth exists outside developed Europe and if it is discovered somewhere, that means an immediate ban on the import into the United Kingdom of meat from that place. That can have an economic effect just as devastating as some of the illnesses that are prevented by the vaccines that the clause already defines.