Tomlinson Report

Debate between Sajid Javid and Mark Durkan

Tuesday 17th December 2013 Westminster Hall

[Sajid Javid]

I agree with the gist of the hon. Lady’s comments, but I am not sure what she means by foot dragging. The report was published on 22 October. On 23 October, it was given to the FCA, and, within days, the FCA announced that it would investigate, so it would be wrong to accuse the FCA or anyone else of foot dragging, but she is right to suggest that we must stay on top of this and make sure it is handled in a timely way.[Official Report, 19 December 2013, Vol. 572, c. 7MC.]

The hon. Lady and other hon. Members mentioned the allegations of fraud in the report. They will understand it is not for Ministers to determine whether criminal activity by any institution or individual has or has not taken place. That is something that the courts and authorities must look into. If she or other hon. Members have been contacted by businesses with concerns, it is timely to remind her that micro-enterprises can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service with any such concerns. Businesses can also raise concerns directly with the FCA, which will investigate if it is appropriate, and of course any organisation is free to go to the police with any concerns about criminal activity. The police may involve other authorities such as the Serious Fraud Office.

[Mark Durkan (Foyle) (SDLP)]

In respect of some of the issues that hon. Members may be hearing about, as the Minister is aware, the arm of RBS operating in Northern Ireland is Ulster bank. Customers of that bank talked to Tomlinson, and other issues have arisen since the report. Will the skilled person appointed by the FCA look specifically at questions about the practices that seem to have been instilled into Ulster bank as well?

[Sajid Javid]

My understanding is that the FCA’s investigation through the skilled person will examine all allegations in the report and some similar allegations in Sir Andrew Large’s report.

I also mention, as my hon. Friend did, the Clifford Chance report commissioned by RBS and described by RBS as independent. I note my hon. Friend’s concerns about Clifford Chance; I listened carefully to what he said. Although it is for RBS to decide whom to appoint, I will ensure that his concerns are conveyed to RBS.

The hon. Member for Dumfries and Galloway (Mr Brown) discussed the future direction of RBS. He and others will be aware that on 1 November this year, the new management of RBS set out a new direction for the bank, which will lead RBS to boost the British economy rather than burden it. It will also enable RBS to focus on its core British business of supporting British families and companies. Ross McEwan, RBS’s new chief executive, has committed to improving RBS’s lending performance across the UK and announced the ambitious goal of becoming the No. 1 bank for small businesses and enterprises throughout the UK, as measured by a newly created independent survey to be run by the Federation of Small Businesses and the British Chambers of Commerce.

The Tomlinson report also recommended that state-owned banks be split into small banks focusing solely on retail and commercial lending as a means of improving competition in the banking sector. The Government are already committed to greater competition and diversity in the UK banking sector both locally and nationally, which is why we asked the Independent Commission on Banking to investigate competition issues in the UK banking sector as part of its work.

The ICB uncovered a number of issues, and we are taking forward its recommendations in the Banking Reform Bill and through other legislation. We are removing the competitive advantage that big banks get from the “too big to fail” system by introducing ring-fencing in the Bill. We have also secured a new seven-day switching service delivered by industry that will allow both consumers and SMEs to switch businesses accounts far more easily, and we have introduced a strong competition objective for the regulator, the FCA, to help it promote competition much more effectively.

The new regulators have already introduced big changes on the regulatory side to make it easier for new banks to enter the market, grow and compete with the large incumbent banks. We are also taking further action in the Banking Reform Bill by creating a new payments regulator to ensure that new and smaller banks have fair and transparent access to the payment system, and giving the Prudential Regulation Authority a secondary competition objective to strengthen its role in ensuring competitive banking markets. The Bill will also give the FCA further competition powers.

Hon. Members mentioned the future of Lloyds and RBS. At the national level, both RBS and Lloyds are in the process of divesting part of their UK banking businesses, creating new challenger banks. The Government have taken the first steps to return Lloyds to the private sector and are actively considering options for further share sales. The reintroduction of the TSB brand on the high street is great news for competition. That action is further evidence of the Government’s stated aim not to be a permanent investor in the UK banking sector.

The Government do not believe that there is a strong case for breaking up the core operations of any bank in which we have a stake. The cost of reorganisation would be attributable to the banks, and consequently to the taxpayer. The time required to execute such a reorganisation would also be lengthy, further delaying the Government’s ability to return the banks to private ownership.

Before I conclude, I turn to a couple of the other issues raised by hon. Members. My hon. Friend had concerns about insolvency, relating not just to the Tomlinson report but to the process more generally. His comments show how much he has researched the subject, so I take what he said seriously. He will know that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is the lead on insolvency issues, but I will ensure that my colleagues in BIS are aware of his concerns. Perhaps, if he finds it useful, I could arrange a meeting for him with the relevant Minister to discuss this important issue.

My hon. Friend will know, however, that insolvency procedures can be commenced only by a court order, and that the whole process is subject to supervision by courts. It is deliberately designed to ensure transparency, make the process legitimate and provide a forum for any disputes, as they often occur throughout such a fought process. I will take the issue forward for him and see whether more can be done to listen to his concerns.

Small Charitable Donations Bill

Debate between Sajid Javid and Mark Durkan

Monday 26th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Economic Secretary to the Treasury (Sajid Javid)]

I will start by reflecting on the Bill’s constructive Committee stage, and I thank the Opposition for their continuing support. I also thank the hon. Members for Edinburgh East (Sheila Gilmore), for Clwyd South (Susan Elan Jones), for Banff and Buchan (Dr Whiteford), for West Dunbartonshire (Gemma Doyle) and for Foyle (Mark Durkan) for their contributions to today’s debate. I will try to answer as many of the issues raised as I can.

Proceedings in Committee, and now on Report, have provided an excellent challenge to and scrutiny of the Bill—as they should have done—and I hope it is clear from the amendments that they have tabled that the Government have listened to hon. Members from across the House. The amendments in this group cover mainly the eligibility conditions for charities that wish to claim under the small donations scheme. New clauses 1 and 2 would have a wider effect, as they require HMRC to publish certain details about the scheme as a whole. Amendment 21 would require HMRC to publish details of the connected charities and community buildings rules. Government amendments 28 and 29 are minor and technical and simply change the Government Department to which powers in clauses 7 and 8 are given.

In Committee we debated a variant of new clause 1 and the same text of new clause 2. I opposed the measures then, and I am afraid I shall oppose them again today, as I will amendment 21. As I explained in Committee, we need neither the new clauses nor amendment 21. We are already doing much of what they ask and it would not be a good use of civil servants’ time to duplicate that work.

Let me start with the annual report. As I said in Committee, HMRC publishes national statistics on the cost of various charitable tax reliefs three times each year. Once the gift aid small donations scheme is up and running, HMRC will include details of that in those national statistics. HMRC does not separately identify gift aid claims by types of organisation, regions of the UK, or their regulators. Those details are not published for gift aid claims and it would not be a good use of HMRC’s time to produce such information for this scheme.

HMRC does not collect information on whether a charity is exempt or excepted. Charities would have to provide that extra information, and HMRC would need to change its IT system to cater for that. Again, that cannot be a good use of resources for either charities or HMRC. HMRC does not publish details of fraud rates in particular schemes or tax reliefs, as that would be tantamount to advertising them to fraudsters. I therefore cannot commit to publishing such information. All information that HMRC can reasonably publish will be published, and interested Members will be able to find all relevant information on its website.

New clause 2 would require a review of the scheme two years after the Act comes into force. As I said in Committee, the Government are committed to a review of the scheme three years after it has started. That will allow enough time for the scheme to get up and running, and for charities to learn about it and get used to claiming. Any less time than that, and the review would not be representative of the scheme. A two-year review would be premature, but it would be wrong to think that no one will look at the scheme for three years. HMRC engages with charities every day through its helpline, outreach and audit teams. It will listen to what charities are saying and look for ways to improve the scheme.

HMRC’s charity tax forum has been discussing this scheme since it was announced in March 2011. The forum will share experiences of the scheme as it beds down, and identify areas for improvement. HMRC keeps all guidance under review and makes changes as necessary so that any issues raised can be responded to without having to wait for three years to pass.

Amendment 21 would require the Treasury to carry out a separate review of the scheme in relation to the community buildings and connected charities rules. As they currently stand, the community buildings and connected charities rules will affect only a few charities. For the vast majority who take advantage of the scheme, such rules will be irrelevant and can be ignored. Most charities are not connected with other charities, and do not operate within community buildings or collect more than £5,000 in small cash donations.

We will debate later more Opposition amendments on the community buildings and connected charities rules. The amendments would extend those rules—and their complexities—to a far larger number of charities. Whatever the outcome of that debate, I do not believe that amendment 21 is necessary. I have already said that we will review the scheme after three years, and that review will be wide ranging and look at all aspects of the scheme. It seems unnecessary and wasteful to hold another review 12 months earlier to look at just a small part of the scheme; it would be better to review everything at the same time.

The hon. Member for Harrow West (Mr Thomas) spent two Committee sittings setting out his concerns about HMRC, which he doubted would have enough resources to administer the scheme—if we go ahead with all these reviews and reports, he may well be right. I do not feel that the new clauses or amendment 21 are a necessary or effective use of public resources, and I therefore ask the hon. Member for Kilmarnock and Loudoun (Cathy Jamieson) not to press them.

New clause 3 was tabled by the hon. Member for Foyle, and amendments 32 and 33 by the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan. They are designed to support new and smaller charities and to mitigate the effects of a three-year eligibility period. I hope that hon. Members have noted the amendments that I tabled on eligibility requirements, and that my proposal to drop the eligibility period to two years goes some way to allaying their concerns.

We debated new clause 3 at length in Committee, but I am afraid the concerns that I raised still apply. HMRC would be expected to gather information from other agencies to check the credibility of small charities. That would place a significant administrative burden on it to verify each and every charity that applied through that route. HMRC would be required to make subjective judgments about whether a charity was in or out, and would be constantly at risk of a legal challenge to its decisions. The scheme would be impractical in operational terms and I ask the hon. Member for Foyle to consider not pursuing the new clause.

[Mark Durkan]

The Minister suggests that under the new clause, HMRC would have to check with all sorts of other agencies, but the measure clearly states that HMRC can provide for a scheme to which charities may apply. It would be up to the charities to produce and submit the verifying information. It would not be HMRC’s duty to verify information with other charity regulators or anybody else; it would be up to the charity making the claim to produce the necessary evidence as laid down in the scheme.

[Sajid Javid]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that point. He sat on the Public Bill Committee and will understand from those debates—probably more than most Members in the Chamber today—the eligibility requirements. I know that he welcomes some of the Government amendments, but the remaining eligibility requirements provide a degree of protection for the public purse, so that charities that make claims and use the benefits introduced by this Bill are those that HMRC has good reason to believe are using the measure in the right way, and there is protection against fraud. I have looked closely at his new clause, which he has tabled with the best of intentions, but it is not a change that we can afford to make at the moment.

I turn to amendments 32 and 33, tabled by the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan. Again, I am afraid I cannot support them. They would allow certain charities— those with an annual income below £25,000 and those set up for specific projects and events, such as she described—to claim top-up payments from the time when they were established without meeting any other eligibility requirements. I sympathise with the intention behind the amendments, but they would cost a lot of money—tens of millions of pounds.

Most small charities starting up have an annual income well below £25,000, and those set up in reaction to events such as disasters would also qualify for payments under the amendments, so nearly every new charity would qualify immediately. As I said, I sympathise with the intentions behind the amendments, but it is essential to have some eligibility requirements, otherwise the scheme will be wide open to fraudsters and the cost to the public purse will rocket.

Infrastructure (Financial Assistance) Bill

Debate between Sajid Javid and Mark Durkan

Monday 15th October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mark Durkan]

Further to the Minister’s earlier clarification, will he assure us that any moneys committed or guaranteed to support an infrastructure project in a devolved area will be truly and fully additional to allocations under the Barnett formula, or will some subsequent adjustments be sought?

[Sajid Javid]

I assure the hon. Gentleman that the commitments for guarantees or other moneys used under the Bill will have nothing to do with the Barnett formula and that it will be true and genuine assistance from the United Kingdom Government for any area of the United Kingdom, including the devolved areas.

In conclusion, I believe that this is an important and much-needed Bill. It will allow critical infrastructure projects that are being held back by adverse credit conditions to proceed. It contains measures that will support growth, jobs and families, all at a minimal cost to the taxpayer. It will support the UK’s construction sector by providing access to finance for financially credible and high-value-for-money projects. It will help unlock the investment that the UK requires, it will help make the UK one of the predominant places in the world to do business, and it will support sustainable growth that is balanced across sectors and regions. I commend the Bill to the House.