Planning-gain Supplement (Preparations) Bill
10:30 am
John Healey (Financial Secretary, HM Treasury; Wentworth, Labour)
I beg to move,
That—
(1) the Committee shall (in addition to its first meeting at 10.30 a.m. on Tuesday 30th January) meet—
(a) at 4.30 p.m. on Tuesday 30th January, and
(b) at 9.00 a.m. and 1.00 p.m. on Thursday 1st February;
(2) the proceedings shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at 4.00 p.m. on Thursday 1st February.
I welcome you the Chair, Mr. Hood. I look forward to serving under your chairmanship for the first time on a Public Bill Committee. You have an established interest in housing, so perhaps you will keep a close eye on policy, as well as keeping a Chairman’s eye on proceedings. I welcome all other members of the Committee, particularly those who have already taken an interest in the subject, whether by speaking on Second Reading, tabling parliamentary questions or serving with distinction on the inquiry into the planning gain supplement undertaken by the Select Committee on Communities and Local Government.
This brief paving Bill will ensure the regularity and propriety of Government expenditure, in line with parliamentary and Government accounting rules. It does not deal with the policy, nature or operation of the planning gain supplement; it is a merely functional Bill to authorise appropriate preparatory expenditure. As I explained on Second Reading, if the Government were to decide to introduce a supplement, we would announce it and legislate for it in the normal way, so there would be a substantial opportunity to debate and scrutinise such proposals.
Our debate ranged widely on Second Reading, as the hon. Member for Rayleigh recognised. Members of the Committee will notice that we do not propose a long Committee stage for this three-clause Bill. The general view of the Programming Sub-Committee was that the time allocated was more than sufficient.