Clause 2 - Functions of SOCA as to serious organised crime
Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill
3:30 pm
Mr David Heath (Shadow Minister (Home Affairs), Home Affairs; Somerton and Frome, Liberal Democrat)
At the risk of labouring a point beyond anything that is reasonable, I wish to draw attention to the dissimilarity of subsections (3) and (4), which deal with the commissioners and rightly contain a requirement to act in agreement on revenue fraud. Under subsection (3), there is a further and, in my view, otiose requirement for SOCA to act if the Serious Fraud Office declines to act, which does not apply with regard to revenue fraud. Such matters bolster my case for re-examining the issue. Does the term ''commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs'' mean anything or is it, as I suspect, dependent on the passing of a separate Bill, which we cannot be assured will pass through Parliament and receive Royal Assent at this stage?