New Clause 73 – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 14 July 1977.
I beg to move, That the clause be read a, Second time.
In Committee I moved New Clause 99, and New Clause 73 is a further attempt to get this matter dealt with in a rather re-drafted form. It deals with trusts for disabled persons. There are now tax concessions for trusts set up for mentally handicapped people.
In Committee I argued that these concessions should be extended to trusts set up for other types of disabled people. The Government argued that there were special reasons which applied to the mentally handicapped. I do not deny that those people are in a special category. As I remember, the argument was that they were unable to handle their own financial affairs and, therefore, they had to have trusts, whereas other disabled persons might or might not be able to handle their financial affairs.
I said that I did not believe that that distinction was valid. I am more and more convinced of that view. I believe that it would be sensible to make this quite minor change and to allow these same tax concessions to others. It is not too difficult to define, and it is fairly clear in New Clause 73 that we could use the entitlement to attendance allowance as the qualifying entitlement.
As the hon. Member for Cornwall, North (Mr. Pardoe) has said, the clause extends the existing capital transfer tax relief for trusts for the mentally disabled to cover trusts for those in receipt of attendance allowance. A clause was moved in Committee which would have gone further than this one. It was resisted. However, this clause applies to those in receipt of attendance allowance. For that reason, and because it is more restricted, I am happy to recommend to the House that it be accepted.