National Insurance Contributions Bill

My Lords, I do not believe that there is, because the legislation does not permit it. That is why we need the Bill. At the moment, tax legislation can be backdated to the start of a tax year and before, through a Finance Bill, but national insurance legislation does not permit that. Obviously, therefore, without this legislation it would not have been possible for that backdating to have taken place. We need the Bill to allow it where necessary. There is hope that—beyond the draft regulations already in place that tie up with the Finance (No. 2) Act 2005—we will never need to use the provisions again, because people are compliant and have understood the determination of the Government to tackle the issue. We will have to see. I am grateful for the opportunity to explain the issues that have given rise to the Bill. There are clearly a number of points that we can expect to debate at greater length when the Bill moves to Committee. I look forward to that and commend the Bill to the House. On Question, Bill read a second time.