Clause 33
Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [Lords]
9:00 am
Phil Woolas (Minister of State (the North West), Home Office; Oldham East and Saddleworth, Labour)
That is not something of which I remind the Home Secretary often, but it is helpful. The answer is yes, because the director of border revenue, who is the chief executive of ukba, is equivalent to a commissioner for Revenue and Customs in being the accounting officer who is responsible for revenue. The Minister with responsibility for Customs will shadow and oversee the director, just as a Treasury Minister shadows and oversees commissioners. That will be the case for as long as the Customs function remains within the Home Office. In practice, for the enlightenment of the Committee, I am told that I have a private secretary in an office in the Treasury, but I have yet to get across there to find it—[Interruption.] No, not two salaries. On a serious note, this means that the arrangements for and the relationship between duty levels—and VAT levels, in some respects, given the importance of customs to the Revenue—is set out in consultation with the Treasury and as part of Budget preparations. I hope that that explains the situation.