Saving Gateway Accounts Bill

Amendment 45 is presented as a probing amendment. It concerns the disclosure of information by HMRC to the Department for Work and Pensions in relation to England, Scotland and Wales, and to the Department for Social Development in relation to Northern Ireland, so that HMRC can establish who is eligible for the saving gateway. The clause extends the existing information gateways between HMRC and the DWP and the Department for Social Development to cover the supply of information to HMRC by these departments for saving gateway purposes. The amendment seeks to impose a restriction so that information supplied can be used only in connection with administration of saving gateway accounts. I am sure that we can all agree that the collection, use and sharing of personal information must be lawful and proportionate. I hope that I can offer the noble Baroness reassurance that the use of information by HMRC in relation to the saving gateway will be proportionate and will be, quite rightly, strictly regulated without the need for such an amendment. The information that will be supplied to HMRC will be the minimum necessary to enable it to establish a person’s eligibility for the saving gateway and to establish whether a person has any specific needs. For example, they may have an appointee looking after their affairs or they may require documents sent to them to be in large print or in Braille. It is appropriate that HMRC knows this so that it can communicate in a way that is sensitive to a person’s circumstances. The data transfer will take place by means of a secure electronic transfer. Once these data reach HMRC, there are no plans for them to be routinely used for other HMRC functions. I say "routinely" because there are some circumstances where it might be beneficial for data to be used for reasons that would not fall within the purposes of administering saving gateway accounts. For example, the Bill makes provision for a death payment to be made where an account holder dies before the account reaches maturity. DWP will inform HMRC where a person on a qualifying benefit has died. If the amendment were accepted, HMRC would not be able to update any of its other systems to note this fact. Similar cases may arise where information supplied by DWP in relation to the saving gateway contains more up-to-date contact details than are held elsewhere in the HMRC systems. It makes sense, both for more efficient and effective public administration and in enabling HMRC to provide better customer service, for HMRC to be able to update records on other systems if they are out of date or inaccurate. The amendment would prevent that kind of sensible and wholly benign reuse of information. I therefore believe that the amendment is too restrictive. I share the noble Baroness’s concerns that safeguarding personal information is paramount. The Bill, by placing the saving gateway under the management of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs, will ensure that the provisions of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005, which strictly regulate the use of information by officers of HMRC, will apply to any information held by HMRC in relation to the saving gateway, including the information supplied by DWP that we have been discussing. Under Section 19 of that Act, it is an offence for any Revenue and Customs official to wrongfully disclose information held by HMRC in connection with any of its functions. A wrongful disclosure may be a criminal offence, punishable on conviction by a fine, imprisonment of up to two years or both. So there are already provisions in place which regulate the use of information by HMRC and which protect the interests of the individual by safeguarding against the misuse of information by HMRC officers. The amendment would not add anything to that, but it would constrain HMRC from using information across its other functions in a way that would be beneficial to customers and enhance its economic efficiency. In the light of the assurances I have given, I hope the noble Baroness will withdraw the amendment.