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Finance (No. 2) Bill

Some of the points made by the Opposition have been valid and have been accepted by the Government. I wait with great interest to hear what my right hon. Friend the Paymaster General says about disability. The definition of disability, as I understand it, is not woolly. The hon. Member for Braintree (Mr. Newmark) may disagree with it. I quite understand that. He said that he disagreed with it. But it is not woolly. It may not be the right definition from his point of view, but it is precise. The right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood) kindly accepted an intervention in which I read from the explanatory notes. My point was that that was, in a sense, a statement of aim by the Government as to what they hoped to achieve with schedule 20. Because it was an intervention, I did not carry on and read a large part of what followed, but, with your indulgence Mr. Deputy Speaker, I will now read a little more from the explanatory notes to clause 157 and schedule 20. After the piece that I read out, which ended at ““assets at age 18””, the notes state:"““Trusts for ‘disabled persons’ will also continue to enjoy special treatment.””" That was a statement of aim by the Government. There were problems and the Government listened to some of those criticisms—hence the Government amendments before us today, which I hope that my right hon. Friend the Paymaster General will explain. I have had the pleasure of serving on five Finance Bill Standing Committees in my time in Parliament—there are hon. Members, and particularly right hon. Members, who have served on a great many more—and I suspect that a similar kind of procedure, on occasions, unfolded when the Conservatives were in government. Whether in the explanatory notes, or a Budget statement, or a Budget press release, there was a statement of what a particular series of measures embodied in a Finance Bill were intended to achieve. Then experts came along—whether it was Mrs. Gauke or the Chartered Institute of Taxation—and said, ““Leaving aside for a minute whether we agree with that statement of purpose or aim, what you have put in your Finance Bill does not embody that and will not get you where you say that you wish to go.”” In terms of the debate in Committee and here today on where the Government wish to go with these trusts and the change in the tax regimes for them, the Government have listened. On some of the more technical aspects, they have said: ““We set out clearly where we wished to go. We set out the clauses and the schedule in the Finance Bill by which we wished to achieve that goal. We have not technically always got it right. We have listened to those technical criticisms and we have tabled amendments that are in front of the House this evening—they are likely, in the nature of things to be passed—that will deal with those technical deficiencies.”” I see that as a positive endorsement of the parliamentary process and of the way in which the Treasury and its Ministers listen—perhaps more than some right hon. and hon. Members give them credit for—to arguments and proposals made both by outside organisations and, within debate, by Members on both sides of the House. I applaud what the Government have done. They have listened. As I understand the Government amendments—I am not a huge expert on them—they will get the Government much closer to the goal that they and I have. That goal is to clamp down on tax avoidance in certain areas, but still allow ““special treatment””—to use the words from the explanatory notes—in the particular areas to which the explanatory notes refer. Those are sensitive areas in human terms and judging from the debate, all hon. Members broadly support them. I am talking about looking after individuals who have disabilities, whether or not they are minors, following the death of those who care for them and about broadening the definition of those who care for them, and also about looking after those, whether or not they have disabilities, who are minors when they are bereaved. I applaud what the Government have tried to do. As far as I can tell, they have got it right.