To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer when his Department first published its intention to apply the standard rate of VAT to incontinence products. [19716]

[holding answer 8 December 1997]: The wholesale supply of incontinence products has been standard-rated since 1973. Supplies have been zero-rated since 1984 when made direct to handicapped persons, but this relief has been manipulated as part of an avoidance scheme designed to gain a tax advantage. The Value Added Tax (Drugs, Medicines and Aids for the Handicapped) Order 1997, laid before Parliament on 18 November 1997, has restored the position.Supplies of incontinence products remain VAT-free to the user, either under the NHS or as part of healthcare in the private sector.