National Insurance Contributions Bill

What the noble Baroness seeks to achieve will happen in practice, but the amendment is unnecessary. All regulations made under the Bill will be published in draft. They will also be subject to a 12-week consultation prior to regulations being brought forward for approval by both Houses of Parliament. The Paymaster General gave an assurance during Third Reading in the other place, which I reiterate here, that draft regulations will be published a minimum of 12 weeks before they are made. The noble Baroness was a little unkind to the Treasury about those regulations. I do not instantaneously remember all of the detail, but it is reasonably argued that it did comply with Cabinet Office guidelines, although it is recognised that it is always possible to improve such specialist provisions. That was the nub of the issue. Draft regulations were published on 14 November last year in respect of the first use of the powers in the Bill to backdate national insurance liability to reflect provisions in Schedule 2 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2005. The regulations prescribe an additional statement to be contained in future forms of national insurance elections that will make clear that the election cannot transfer backdated employers’ national insurance liabilities to their employees. That regulation is being made using existing powers. It extends the tax avoidance disclosure rules to national insurance. HMRC has received no substantive comments since those drafts were published, but there will be plenty of time for scrutiny of and comment on the draft regulations. The amendment is unnecessary and I ask the noble Baroness to withdraw it.