To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer pursuant to the Paymaster General's press statement of 29 November (1) if the Orion Trust owns properties (a) in France, (b) in Italy and (c) elsewhere abroad which are used by the Paymaster General; [19007](2) if he will list the trustees of the Orion Trust; when it was established; and what assets it possessed in the United Kingdom at that time; [19005](3) if the Paymaster General' receives regular payments from the Orion Trust; [19714](4) if the Paymaster General receives any benefits in kind from the Orion Trust. [19750]

[holding answers 4, 8 and 9 December 1997]: The Paymaster General has issued a detailed statement, a copy of which has been placed in the Library of the House.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if the Inland Revenue has agreed the tax returns in which the Paymaster General reported the sale to the Orion Trust of shares that arose from the rights issue by Trans Tec. [19719]

[holding answer 8 December 1997]: The position under successive Governments has been that the law on taxpayer confidentiality prevents the Inland Revenue from disclosing any information relating to the tax affairs of any particular taxpayer.

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what steps he took to ensure that no conflict of interest arose as a result of the Paymaster General's role in sponsoring the working group on the financing of high technology companies and his beneficial interest in Trans Tec plc. [19112]

[holding answer 4 December 1997]: The report of the working group on high-tech companies is being prepared for me and the President of the Board of Trade as part of our wide-ranging look at ways of improving the UK's record of investment in R and D.