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Finance (No. 2) Bill

The affirmative procedure will be necessary. I know that Members, including the hon. Gentleman, fully appreciate the importance and urgency of tackling this fraud and of the Department having the necessary powers. Nonetheless, there should still be scrutiny by the House of those powers, how they are intended to be used and how they are used. I will go further and say that the details of the reporting requirement and how it will affect business means that there needs to be discussions with business as well. We have to make sure that there is minimum impact, particularly regulatory impact, on businesses generally. The reporting requirement should be kept to an absolute minimum. The provisions will need to take into account consultation on those elements. Thus far businesses have been totally supportive of the Government’s actions—they have been consulted—because they are well aware of the dangers that such fraud poses not only to the Revenue, but to their activities as legitimate businesses that can be undermined by fraud.