Clause 17 - Amusement machine licence duty: rates
Finance Bill
3:50 pm
Mr John Healey (Economic Secretary, HM Treasury; Wentworth, Labour)
Let me say to the hon. Member for South Norfolk that the policy and the approach set out in the Red Book have not changed. It makes sense to consider and make decisions about any prospective reform in gaming duty in the context of the wider and more radical potential changes in social law. It makes sense that we make those decisions in tandem and implement them in tandem, which is why we are aligning any potential reform of amusement machine licence duty with the wider changes, precisely as set out in the Red Book.
It is a pleasure to see my hon. Friend the Member for Rhondda (Chris Bryant) on the Back Benches of the Standing Committee for the first time. He poses a good question: what is the principal purpose, or what is the range of purposes, for the design and operation of amusement machine licence duty? That was our starting point last year when we issued a public consultation on the current system and on proposals and possibilities for longer term reform. It is true that this system, like some of the previous gaming duty systems that we have now overhauled, is outdated and inflexible. In many ways, aspects of it are unfair, particularly for the category A machines, and in some parts of the industry it acts as a barrier to entry. Those were the questions that we posed as part of the consultation. We are now revisiting them, and we will need to do so again when we make decisions about whether to reform amusement machine licence duty, and if so, how.
I hope that the Committee will give the much narrower question of the revalorisation set out in clause 17 its backing.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 17 ordered to stand part of the Bill.