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VAT (Isle of Mull Swimming Pool)

I am grateful to the hon. Member for Argyll and Bute (Mr. Reid) for allowing me to take a couple of minutes to support the powerful argument that he made. I agree with everything he said about the need to crack down on evasion; I think that everyone in the House agrees on that. However, he put forward a powerful case for how that can have perverse consequences for small community groups. I understand that absolutely from my own experience. For example, as the hon. Gentleman noted, if a building is built in one way it can attract VAT, yet if it is built in another it does not. In a recreation facility in which the entrance to the swimming pool is through a central area, if the pool is completely replaced but the entrance remains the same, that new facility attracts VAT. However, if it were wholly new—with an entrance in a separate place—it would not attract VAT. As the hon. Gentleman said, that can be enormously damaging for small voluntary groups that are trying to build a community facility, not trying to evade VAT, and which are not big corporations. Therefore, I support everything he said in that respect. The hon. Gentleman also referred to the fact that time is running out on the Isle of Mull. Time, as he powerfully demonstrated, is often of the essence in these judgments. It is important for small community groups, such as those on the Isle of Mull and in Highworth in my constituency, that do not have access to much professional advice—they cannot afford it—to get a clear and rapid indication of their tax liability. In my experience in Highworth, that can take a year, which I am sure he agrees is too long. I hope that my right hon. Friend the Paymaster General, whom I know will be sympathetic to the efforts of voluntary groups in the Isle of Mull and elsewhere, can find a way to reassure everyone about those concerns.