Schedule 30 - First-year allowances for expenditure on environmentally beneficial plant or machinery
Finance Bill
Public Bill Committees, 20 May 2003, 6:30 pm
Mr John Healey (Economic Secretary, HM Treasury; Wentworth, Labour)
The discussion has been interesting. I shall try to deal with the important points, finishing
with those raised by the hon. Member for Arundel and South Downs.
The right hon. Member for Fylde and the hon. Member for Huntingdon asked why second-hand equipment does not qualify for the particular tax treatment. Members of the Committee will recall that I placed clause 166 in the context of the green technology challenge, which the Government launched in 2001. The scheme, which covers water technologies, cleaner vehicles and fuels and energy-saving technologies, aims to encourage businesses to invest in state-of-the-art, environmentally beneficial technologies that are innovative and have yet to achieve market penetration. It is not designed for long-life assets, as the right hon. Member for Fylde argued, or reused assets, as the hon. Member for Huntingdon argued. In the same way as the existing first-year allowance schemes, it applies to new and unused equipment—to do otherwise would dilute its focus.
The hon. Member for Huntingdon also asked about heat-generating equipment. I have tried to explain—the explanatory notes make this clear—that clause 166 deals with water technologies, so the answer to his question is no.
As we do with other schemes, we shall keep the operation of this provision and the scheme for water technologies closely under review. We shall consider extending or amending the list of qualifying technologies, if there is evidence to show that there is a case for doing so.