Mr Ian Stewart: I beg to move, That the Arbury Banks Preservation Order 1975, a copy of which was laid before this House on 16th October, in the last Session of Parliament, be annulled. Arbury Banks is the name of an early Iron Age settlement, consisting of an area of about 15 acres situated on high ground about three-quarters of a mile south-west of the village of Ashwell, in North Hertfordshire....
Mr Ian Stewart: Although the Minister has not given me all the encouragement I hoped for, his response to the intervention of my hon. Friend the Member for Hove (Mr. Sainsbury) was sufficiently encouraging for me to feel it right to withdraw my motion, bearing in mind that the matter stands referred to a Joint Committee of both Houses. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the motion.
Mr Ian Stewart: I do not wish to delay the House for very long, but I think that it is proper for a tribute to be paid by a practising banker to the staffs of the Trustee Savings Banks, especially those in the Central Trustee Savings Bank, who, by the conduct of their business over many years, have established such good credentials for allowing their movement to develop into some of the wider areas of...
Mr Ian Stewart: I shall intervene only briefly. I add my good wishes to the Bill. I want to put the record straight on one or two small matters which occurred on Second Reading. I have been asked by Mr. Catt. the General Manager of the Central Trustee Savings Bank, to point out that the hon. Member for Thornaby (Mr. Wrigglesworth) and my hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead (Mr. Fins-berg) referred to Mr....
Mr Ian Stewart: It is accepted that there could be a wider role, but because of the way in which Mr. Catt's remarks were expressed and the intepretation which was placed upon them by hon. Members it might be that some confusion remains. As no doubt the debate on Second Reading will be one of the points of reference for future discussion about the way in which the movement develops, it seemed right to take...
Mr Ian Stewart: After a speech of such quality from the hon. Member for Birmingham, Handsworth (Mr. Lee), I hope that the House will not expect me to follow him into all the intricacies of subinfeudation—
Mr Ian Stewart: Without wishing to comment on the hon. Member's speech, I am relieved to have your dispensation, Sir, not to have to follow up some of his threads. I should declare an indirect interest in the subject of the Bill as a director of a bank which, as part of its business, lends or has lent for the development of houses, factories, offices and so on over a number of years. That interest has given...
Mr Ian Stewart: I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
Mr Ian Stewart: In Committee we tabled two new clauses relating to the transfer of a business to a company. After the wide ranging debate that we have just had on the broader issues raised by the Bill, we come back firmly to the nuts and bolts. I should explain briefly the reason for tabling these new clauses and why it has rightly been suggested that Government Amendment No. 222 should be considered at the...
Mr Ian Stewart: With the leave of the House. I shall make a few comments. I welcome the statement of the Minister of State. The amendment that he introduced goes a considerable way to meeting the essence of the points which we raised. I imagine that the clause will apply equally to a partnership or an individual.
Mr Ian Stewart: Guidance sub-paragraphs are included for the assistance of the board in deciding what is just and reasonable. I imagine it is intended that these notes of guidance on apportionment should be pretty strictly followed in every case and that although it is not possible to impose technically the exact provisions within the paragraph the board would normally make judgments only about the matters...
Mr Ian Stewart: I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
Mr Ian Stewart: We had a long debate yesterday on the situation of charities affected by the Bill. Not surprisingly, we have come across similar problems in dealing with pension funds. New Clauses 6 and 9 relate to the position of pension funds and their treatment in respect of development land tax. New Clause 6 seeks to bring the position of the pension funds more closely into line with that of charities...
Mr Ian Stewart: I am grateful for my hon. Friend's intervention, because if there is any doubt on this matter it should certainly be cleared up. The 12 million I quoted are the actual members of the funds. As I was saying, if all those who belong to pension funds have wives, families or other dependants, we are indeed talking about a much larger figure. We might even double it if we assume that each...
Mr Ian Stewart: My hon. Friend's interventions are always helpful to me. He has assisted me in making the point that there is little difference between pension funds and charities in this context. I have no doubt that almshouses provided by private charities would have been suitable homes not only for the pensioners of Henry VIII but for any of his other courtiers who wished to shed their dependants....
Mr Ian Stewart: Certainly it is to guard against inflation. Although the pension funds have a very good record in the rate of benefits which they have been able to pay, this has been made much more difficult in the last year or two and many funds have had to be topped up by contributions from the companies for which they are operating in order to maintain the flow of income.
Mr Ian Stewart: My hon. Friend is absoslutely right. This illustrates the difficulties of pension funds in keeping pace with their income expectations at a time of inflation. The reason that pension funds have invested a considerable proportion of their investable funds in property is that over the years, despite periods of rent control and recession, taking one year with another over a considerable period,...
Mr Ian Stewart: I was trying to be a little more courteous than my hon. and learned Friend, but the point is not lost. I suspect that today, like most reasonable people, the Minister will again be with us in spirit. These proposals can only have come about because the whole of the Bill lies under the evil shadow of the community land scheme. Development land tax is not a genuine tax in the way that we...
Mr Ian Stewart: I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time. In Committee we tabled a clause in much the same terms to provide for deferment of development land tax on the replacement of business assets. We did not reach it because, to meet the timetable to which the Government wished to adhere for the Committee stage, we could not have a full debate on all the outstanding matters. This is the...
Mr Ian Stewart: I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time. As in the case of the previous clause, we put down a new clause in Committee concerning allowances for loss, but it was not debated upstairs and, therefore, this matter now comes up for consideration for the first time. The technical provisions of this new clause are that the land involved must be bought at arm's length market value or...
