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Planning-gain Supplement (Preparations) Bill

I did not say that it would not be populated by information. Clearly at some point any IT system would need to be populated by information. All I said was that the hon. Member for Dundee, East (Stewart Hosie) was asking specific questions that were taking us several stages ahead of where we are in the process at the moment. A final decision on whether to introduce a planning gain supplement awaits the conclusion of the current round of consultations. The passage of this Bill is needed in advance of that decision and that is the purpose of bringing it forward. If we decide that we should introduce a planning gain supplement, we can start to design, commission and build the IT administrative systems immediately to support that, and increase the chances of doing so successfully and in a timely and cost-effective way. The Bill is not exceptional, in that the House has approved paving measures for policies that have been far less developed than our proposals for a planning gain supplement are at this time. Paving Bills are not unusual and are introduced where there is a need to incur expenditure in advance of the main legislation. Examples include the British Coal and British Rail (Transfer Proposals) Act 1993 and the Tax Credits (Initial Expenditure) Act 1998. More recent examples include section 137 of the Finance Act 2002, which authorised preparatory expenditure on a lorry road user charge, and section 324 of the Finance Act 2004, which gave authorisation to the Treasury to incur expenditure if we were to adopt the single currency. Clearly it is in no one’s interest—certainly not the Government’s—to proceed with the implementation of a planning gain supplement unless or until such time as we are satisfied that the policy will be workable and effective.