Clause 27

Part of Finance (No. 2) Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 9:00 am on 28 October 2010.

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Photo of David Hanson David Hanson Shadow Minister (Treasury) 9:00, 28 October 2010

Good morning, Mr Caton. Whatever happens, this is our last day in Committee. We shall debate from clause 27 to clause 33, as well as the new clause tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Nottingham East, and I hope that we shall make progress as speedily as we can.

The Opposition have no problem with the policy objectives of clause 27, but I would like to test the Minister, because the clause gives him and the Treasury wide powers to implement provisions at a future date. Subsection (2) states

“Schedule 11 comes into force on such day as the Treasury may by order appoint.”

Will the Minister say which day and which time the Treasury might by order appoint for implementation of the said provision following Royal Assent? I ask that because the clause gives him a wide implementation power.

Subsection (3) states:

“An order under subsection (2)…(a) may commence a provision generally or only for specified purposes, and…(b) may appoint different days for different provisions or for different purposes.”

That, too, gives the Minister a wide power to reflect on the issues and bring in, at different times, provisions relating to the specified purposes under clause 27. I would welcome an outline of his thinking on implementation of the clause.

Subsection (4) is also a very wide provision, so the Minister needs to put on record his approach to the issues. The subsection states:

“The Treasury may by order make any incidental, supplemental, consequential, transitional, transitory or saving provision which appears appropriate in consequence of, or otherwise in connection with, that Schedule.”

I know that it is probably common practice to put in place such a wide power, but it is important that the Minister gives some indication of the circumstances in which he would exercise it. In the event of the clause receiving the approval of both Houses, we will be giving him great power to vary the penalties for failure to pay tax.

Subsection (5) states:

“An order under subsection (4) may…(a) make different provision for different purposes, and…(b) make provision amending, repealing or revoking any Act or subordinate legislation whenever passed or made (including this Act and any Act amended by it).”

This is a fairly strong Henry VIII power. It is incumbent on the Minister to explain the circumstances in which he would use it, in the same way as, when I was a Minister, I had to explain the circumstances in which I would use a power. I remind the hon. Gentleman of that because I served for 13 years as a Minister in the previous Government and on numerous occasions, in relation to numerous Bills that granted similar powers, Opposition Members questioned me on exactly how I would use the powers downstream. Therefore, it is only fair that I give the Minister the opportunity to reflect on these matters accordingly.

Subsection (6) states:

“An order under this section is to be made by statutory instrument.”

It is important that we know whether the Minister believes that such a statutory instrument would be subject to the affirmative procedure. Alternatively, would the Opposition be required to pray against the instrument if we want to examine matters in a more detailed way? Again, we have no objection to the clause in principle, but we want clarification on certain points.

Subsection (7) states:

“A statutory instrument containing an order under subsection (4) which includes provision amending or repealing any provision of an Act is subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of the House of Commons.”

Will the Minister give some indication of how that will work?

I do not wish to cause the Minister too much grief on the principle of the clause. We support it, because penalties for failure to pay tax are important. Schedule 56 to the Finance Act 2009 is important; it was passed by the previous Government. Given the wide-ranging nature of the powers that we are seconding to him, however, will the Minister give some indication of how he might choose to exercise them?