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National Insurance Contributions Bill

As a general principle, we tend to support this kind of amendment. A concern that we often have is that Parliament legislates to little effect, and this kind of provision enables us to judge the effect of the legislation. My concern here is twofold. First, a part, if not the major part, of the purpose of this Bill is to deter, and you cannot measure something that has not happened. Secondly, while in year one or year two it would be possible to come up with a figure that looked half-credible, by the end of year five, or year 10, or year 50—on the assumption that the Bill continues—the figures would have no meaning because you would be saying that a provision that had been stopped in year one would, if it had carried on, have had a multiple effect year on year. That is the only way that you could do it. That would mean that the figure would be pretty meaningless after a moderate amount of time.