Clause 10 - Powers to require information
Employment Bill
6:45 pm
Mr Philip Hammond (Runnymede and Weybridge, Conservative)
Of course the Minister is right. The agent, this poor hapless accountant, might well be the guy at the heart of the scam, but so might the next-door neighbour or the chap running the corner shop down the road. I do not think that accountants or agents have a monopoly on benefit fraud. I think that the Minister is right to say that the agent might be someone whom the Inland Revenue needs to address, but I suspect that the regulations under subsection (1) will be drafted broadly enough to allow Inland Revenue officers to require documents from anyone whom they reasonably believe to be involved in a benefits fraud. I would be surprised and disappointed if that were not the case. Subsection (2) spells out some particular cases.
In view of the time and of the outrageous guillotine that has been imposed on the Bill, and notwithstanding the fact some matters remain unresolved, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Clause 10 ordered to stand part of the Bill.