 House of Commons |
Session 2005 - 06 Publications on the internet Standing Committee Debates Finance (No. 2) Bill |
Finance (No.2) Bill |
The Committee consisted of the following Members:Frank Cranmer, Emily
Commander, Committee Clerks †
attended the Committee Standing Committee ATuesday 9 May 2006(Morning)[Mr. Edward O'Hara in the Chair]Finance (No.2) Bill(Except
clauses 13 to 15, 26, 61, 91 and 106, schedule 14, and new clauses
relating to the effect of provisions of the Bill on section 18 of the
Inheritance Tax Act
1984) 10.30
am
That during
proceedings on the Finance (No. 2) Bill (except Clauses 13 to 15, 26,
61, 91 and 106, Schedule 14, and new Clauses relating to the effect of
provisions of the Bill on section 18 of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984),
the Committee do meet at half-past Ten o'clock and half-past Four
o'clock on Tuesdays, and five minutes past Nine o'clock and half-past
Four o'clock on Tuesdays, and five minutes past Nine o'clock and a
quarter to Two o'clock on Thursdays, when the House is
sitting. On behalf of
the Committee, Mr. O’Hara, I warmly welcome you and your
co-Chairmen, Sir John andMr. Benton. You are all experienced
and knowledgeable, and I am sure that you will keep us in order. We
look forward to your expertise and are confident that our deliberations
will be both thorough and relevant. I extend a warm welcome to the hon.
Member for Chipping Barnet (Mrs. Villiers) who will lead for the
Opposition in Committee and to the members of her team, the hon.
Members for Rayleigh (Mr. Francois) and for Fareham (Mr. Hoban), and
those who support
them. I welcome Mr.
Cranmer, the Clerk to the Committee. I am pleased that we shall benefit
again from his significant experience of Finance Bills. I also welcome
the Hansard staff, as I do the hon. Member for Falmouth and
Camborne (Julia Goldsworthy) and her Liberal Democrat colleagues. I am
pleased to see the hon. Member for Dundee, East (Stewart Hosie). He has
been assiduous on the Floor of the House. No doubt he will welcome his
happy and long stint in Committee, but perhaps he can tell me about
that at the end of our
proceedings. I will be
supported in Committee by the Financial Secretary and the newly
appointed Economic Secretary, who is truly looking forward to being
here every Tuesday and Thursday—morning and afternoon. That will
come as news to him. Given that my hon. Friends will follow our
proceedings in great detail, I hope that they will not be disappointed.
The good news is that we have only one Finance Bill this year, not
two—or three Bills, as we had last year. I look forward to our
debates in the coming weeks. I hope that we can conduct ourselves in an
appropriate manner, being pressing in debate, but always remaining
civil. We shall need to behave in such a way to get through the
proceedings and for the sake of our sanity.
Mrs.
Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) (Con): I echo the
Paymaster General’s welcome to you,Mr. O’Hara,
and to your co-Chairmen. My team and I also look forward to working
with you, as we do with the right hon. Lady and her team in the
constructive and co-operative manner that she has just mentioned.
Obviously, we shall make it clear when we disagree with the Government
on certain points, but we hope in many instances to table amendments
that go more towards ascertaining the meaning of the Bill and teasing
out uncertainties, rather than necessarily pushing for a Division and a
change in the published
Bill. I also echo the
Paymaster General’s welcome to the hon. Members for Falmouth and
Camborne and for Dundee, East. I particularly welcome Back Benchers. It
is not always considered to be a great privilege to discuss the Finance
Bill in Committee, but although it may prove to be a fairly long and
gruelling experience, we are well aware of the importance of the task
ahead of us. Indeed, as my hon. Friend Member for Rayleigh said a few
weeks ago, in the past there has almost been an outbreak of Stockholm
syndrome in the Committee as matters become a little eccentric after
several weeks discussing the details of United Kingdom financial
legislation. With those words, I welcome the sittings
motion. Mr.
Colin Breed (South-East Cornwall) (LD): I, too, welcome
you to the Chair, Mr. O’Hara. I think that my hon. Friend the
Member for Falmouth and Camborne has written to you, apologising for
not being able to be here this morning due to a prior speaking
engagement that she could not get out
of. It is many years
since I had the great pleasure of sitting on the Finance Bill Committee
and, from my memories, I was not certain that I wanted to renew that
experience immediately. However, I look forward to working with
Committee members co-operatively on this Bill to try to tease out of
the Government some of the important issues that will affect hon.
Members, and our constituents, in the months and years to
come. Question put
and agreed
to.
The
Chairman: Before we proceed, I have several announcements
to make. The Ways and Means and money resolutions agreed by the House
and on which the Bill is founded are available in the Room. There has,
apparently, been a software bug, which means that the contents pages of
the Bill as printed are slightly inaccurate. If hon. Members have an
inaccurate version, they may obtain new contents pages, printed
separately on green paper, which are available in the
Room. In view of the
resolutions of the House relating to the declaration of interests,
right hon. and hon. Members are required to declare relevant interests
when they table amendments as well as when they speak to them. Copies
of the relevant rules are available from the
Clerk. Again, as usual
with the Finance Bill, because of the quantity of paperwork, boxes are
available to store papers between sittings. Hon. Members who make use
of that facility should note that the filing cabinet containing the
boxes will be locked when the Committee is not
sitting. The Vote
Office would be very grateful if we could try not to mislay copies of
the Budget documents, for the obvious reason that supplies are short
and, if we keep losing them, it may be embarrassed in finding
replacements. I
should, as usual, like to draw attention to the fact that adequate
notice must be given of amendments. Neither my co-Chairmen nor I will,
as a rule, call any standard amendments, including any starred
amendments that may be reached during an afternoon
sitting. Finally,
please switch off all mobile
phones. Resolved, That
the Order in which proceedings in Standing Committee on the Finance
(No. 2) Bill are to be taken shall be: Clauses 1 to 12, Clauses 16 to
25, Clause 27, Schedule 1, Clause 28, Schedule 2, Clause 29, Schedule
3, Clauses 20 to 37, Schedule 4, Clauses 38 to 42, Schedule 5, Clauses
43 to 60, Clauses 62 to 76, Schedule 6, Clauses 77 to 79, Schedule 7,
Clauses 80 and 81, Schedules 8and 9, Clause 82, Schedule 10,
Clauses 83 to 86, Schedule 11, Clauses 87 and 88, Schedule 12, Clause
89, Schedule 13,Clause 90, Clauses 92 to 102, Schedule 15,
Clauses 103 and 104, Schedule 16, Clause 105, Clauses 107 to 134,
Schedule 17, Clauses 135 to 147, Schedule 18, Clauses 148 to 155,
Schedule 19, Clauses 156 and 157, Schedule 20, Clauses 158 and 159,
Schedule 21, Clauses 160 and 161, Schedule 22, Clause 162, Schedule 23,
Clauses 163 and 164, Schedule 24, Clause 165, Schedule 25, Clauses 166
to 178, new Clauses (other than new Clausesrelating to the
effect of provisions of the Bill on section 18 of the Inheritance Tax
Act 1984), new Schedules, Clause 179, Schedule 26, Clauses 180 and
181.—[Dawn
Primarolo.] Clause 1Rates
of tobacco products
duty Question
proposed, That the clause stand part of the
Bill.
The
Chairman: With this it will be convenient to discuss the
following: New clause 1—Review of tobacco products
duty— ‘The Chancellor of
the Exchequer will publish a review in relation to the effectiveness of
tobacco products duty before1st March 2007 and will consult
with organisations which have a special interest in tobacco products
duty before publishing that review.'.
New clause 2—Review
of hydrocarbon oil
duties— ‘The Chancellor
of the Exchequer will publish a review in relation to the effectiveness
of hydrocarbon oil duties before1st March 2007 and will
consult with organisations which have a special interest in hydrocarbon
oil duties before publishing that review.'.
New clause 3—Review
of rates of gaming
duty— ‘The Chancellor of
the Exchequer will publish a review in relation to rates of gaming
before 1st March 2007 and will consult with organisations which have a
special interest in gaming before publishing that
review.'.
New clause 4—Review
of amusement
machines— ‘The
Chancellor of the Exchequer will publish a review in relation to
classes of assessment machine and rates of duty before 1st March 2007
and will consult with organisations which have a special interest in
gaming before publishing that review.'.
I should explain that the
purpose of grouping the clause with the proposed new clauses is to
enable the Committee to debate the proposal for a Government review of
the various duties referred to. We should not anticipate debate on
subsequent clauses. I trust that that is
understood.
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