My Lords, this group deals with the supply of information by HMRC in respect of the income of tenant households, as enshrined in Clause 81. The clause states that HMRC may disclose such information for the purpose of enabling a housing authority to determine whether it is obliged to charge a tenant a specific rent level and for determining what that level should be.
Subsection (2) provides, reasonably enough, that the information may be disclosed only to a local housing authority, the Secretary of State or a body with which the Secretary of State makes arrangements for the information to be passed between HMRC and local housing authorities, but it also, somewhat mysteriously, provides that it may be disclosed to,
“a public body that has been given the function of passing information between HMRC and local housing authorities”.
It is one thing for HMRC to supply details to a local housing authority but quite another for it to do so to some as yet undefined organisation—in the words of the Explanatory Notes,
“a single body nominated by the Secretary of State to act as the ‘gatekeeper’ for this purpose”,
albeit that HMRC has agreed to this procedure. Perhaps the Minister will indicate whether there was a proper consultation with HMRC or whether it was simply asked to frank the proposal.
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What exactly do the Government have in mind? Why is an intermediate body required? What form is it likely to take? What will it cost? Who will foot the bill? What costs are likely to fall anyway on HMRC in supplying information and on councils dealing with it? Should personal information of this kind be made available to anyone other than the housing authority?
Moreover, is there not a major problem with this concept in that many people’s income varies widely during the year? Can HMRC keep up with the fluctuating incomes of zero-hour contract workers, the self-employed, the part-time employed and people working variable hours, some weeks with overtime, some not? How easy would it be to take into account unearned income? Will non-taxable income—for example, from ISAs—be taken into account? What happens during periods of illness or unemployment?
At the other end of the scale, what if the tenant has substantial capital yielding, at present interest rates, only modest income? What happens when all these questions arise not just with tenants but when other members of the household have earnings?
The organisation Social Housing Under Threat points out that the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 contains a presumption against disclosure of information which is, by that statute, limited to organisations which are public bodies. In this case, it points out that bodies which are not public and the Secretary of State will have the power to permit disclosure to a private company to handle the transfer of this sensitive information. It assumes—perhaps the Minister will comment—that disclosure would involve a much larger subset of tenants than will actually be liable for higher rents to ensure that no one is failing to disclose their higher income. After all, it is not obvious that without a provision to test more widely everybody who might be eligible to pay more would be detected. The organisation finally observes that disclosure to housing associations will flow from decisions as to whether or not they will charge higher rents for their tenants—going well beyond, therefore, any concept of public interest and accountability.
Why was this matter included in the consultation of October last year? What discussions have taken place with the Information Commissioner about the proposals? Will HMRC, with all its present problems and evident failings, be up to the job of providing timely and accurate information—and, again, at what cost? These questions all need answering.
Amendment 80 simply removes the ability for HMRC information to be channelled through some government-appointed gatekeeper, no doubt selected from the usual suspects of Capita, G4S, Serco and the like. We need more information before we can safely approve the proposals as they stand. I beg to move.