Ms Dawn Primarolo (Paymaster General, HM Treasury; Bristol South, Labour)

This clause removes some powers currently available to the Inland Revenue. It takes the existing Inland Revenue powers to obtain information in tax investigation cases and applies them to certain classes of national insurance contributions. The clause has been widely welcomed and is a reduction in powers for the Inland Revenue. It was thought that, on transfer, the Contributions Agency had considerably wider-ranging powers than the Revenue, with regard to power of entry, power of examination and the power to compel the production of information documents. Some concern about that was raised at the time. The clause removes those substantial powers and introduces the well known, tried and trusted powers that the Inland Revenue now uses, with all the safeguards provided in the Taxes acts. I commend the clause to the Committee.

Mr Mark Prisk (Hertford & Stortford, Conservative)

I shall not go through those powers. The Paymaster General is entirely right: the diminution of the powers in relation to national insurance is right. It seems inappropriate to have those powers when one thinks that the amounts involved are usually significantly smaller than those involved with tax. There are benefits to alignment, in creating a single, unified approach, and as such we have no wish to oppose the clause.

Question put and agreed to.

Clause 7 ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clause 8 ordered to stand part of the Bill.