why, if you can open and save in more than one ISA account in any tax year provided not more than a total of £3000 is deposited do providers state "Only one Cash ISA can be subscribed to for each tax year" (Alliance & Leicester Direct ISA Issue 4)???

this is causing me some confusion. apologies for asking another ISA question and thanks for the patience.

to make it clearer my current position is that i have £1100 saved with Barclays Tax Beater ISA for tax year 07/08. my understanding is that my best progression is to open a new ISA account (with either Abbey or A&L @ 6.25% and allowing "transfer-in") for tax year 08/09 and then transfer my existing savings from barclays ISA to Abbey/A&L ISA and then continue saving in the new ISA account with full allowance for tax year 08/09 (£3600)

When providers say Only one Cash ISA can be subscribed to for each tax year" they mean just that. You can have only one Cash ISA, although you can have a Cash ISA (also called a Mini ISA - max 3000 for now) or invest in a Maxi ISA (Cash Component with Stocks and Shares up to 7000). But that's still one cash ISA.

See this for more help:

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/ISA/GuideToIsas.asp

You're right about your ISA transfer ins.