Dawn Primarolo (Paymaster General, HM Treasury; Bristol South, Labour)

Good morning, Mr. O’Hara. The amendments would allow a charity to opt for the rules that it wants to operate within. It was interesting that the hon. Gentleman picked a university and mentioned the line between being a business and having a charitable educational objective, because that area of tax law is quite complex.

Although I appreciate the hon. Gentleman’s example, I do not know whether it is a real or theoretical one. As he knows, the boundaries between charitable and business objectives—particularly in universities—and the issue of which set of rules therefore applies are quite an interesting challenge already. I can give the hon. Gentleman a straight answer on the Government’s view. Allowing businesses to opt, so that a charity could decide whether it is charitable or partly charitable, would mean that a small number of cases could be kept in. I am still not convinced. I think that he needs to find another example that does not involve universities, because that is a complex area of tax for lots of reasons.

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