To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will list for each of the three types of employee share and share option schemes now approved by the Revenue under the Taxes Act 1988 and originally introduced under the Finance Acts of 1978, 1980 and 1984, the latest information on (a) the number of approved schemes and (b) the number of people benefiting.

[holding answer 24 June 1988]: The number of employee share schemes which had received formal approval by the Inland Revenue by 31 May 1988 was as follows:

	Number
Finance Act 1978 profit-sharing schemes	752
Finance Act 1980 SAYE-related share option schemes	728
Finance Act 1984 share option schemes	3,093

The number of approved all-employee schemes (Finance Act 1978 and Finance Act 1980) has increased from less than 30 in 1979 to 1,480 by 31 May 1988. This has resulted in well over 1·5 million employees acquiring shares or options over shares under these schemes.Approximately 50,000 options were granted in each of the first three years of operation of the Finance Act 1984 discretionary share option schemes.