Health and Social Care Levy Bill — House of Commons, 2021-09-14
Topic: Social Welfare
Nigel Martin Evans (Conservative, Centre-right): With this it will be convenient to discuss the following: Amendment 8, in clause 2, page 2, line 21, at end insert— "(1A) HMRC shall publish a forecast of the estimated costs of collecting the health and social care levy for the tax year 2023-24 by 31 March 2022." This amendment would require the Government to publish in advance of the levy coming into force its assessment of the extra costs of collecting the levy. Amendment 7, page 2, line 23, after "cost" insert "in current or future years" Amendment 1, page 2, line 28, leave out from first "as" to end of line 30 and insert "determined by joint agreement between the Treasury and the devolved administrations of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland." This amendment would require agreement between the Treasury and the devolved administrations of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as to the shares of the proceeds of the levy that are allocated between health and social care and between England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Amendment 4, page 2, line 29, leave out from "as" to end of line 30 and insert "determined jointly by the Treasury and the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland." The amendment would require joint agreement between the Treasury and the governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as to how the levy proceeds are to be shared between the four areas and between health care and social care. Clauses 2 to 7 stand part New clause 1—Equality impact analysis— "(1) The Chancellor of the Exchequer must review the equality impact of this Act and lay a report of that review before the House of Commons within six months of the passing of this Act (2) A review under this section must consider the impact of the Act on— (a) households at different levels of income, (b) households at different levels of wealth, (c) equality between different ages, and (d) impact between the nations of the UK and regions of England (3) In this section ‘regions of England’ has the same meaning as that used by the Office for National Statistics." This new clause seeks an equality impact assessment of the Bill covering households at different levels of income and wealth; equality between different ages; and the impact between the nations of the UK and regions of England. New clause 2—Review of economic impact of Act— "(1) The Chancellor of the Exchequer must review the economic impact in parts of the United Kingdom and regions of England of the changes made by this Act and lay a report of that review before the House of Commons within six months of the passing of this Act (2) A review under this section must consider the effects of the provisions of the Act on— (a) business investment, (b) employment, (c) productivity, (d) GDP growth, and (e) poverty (3) In this section ‘parts of the United Kingdom’ means— (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales, and (d) Northern Ireland and ‘regions of England’ has the same meaning as that used by the Office for National Statistics." This new clause seeks an economic assessment of the Bill on investment, employment, productivity, growth and poverty in the devolved nations and English regions. New clause 3—Review of revenue effects of Act— "(1) The Chancellor of the Exchequer must review the revenue effects of this Act and lay a report before the House of Commons within six months of the passing of this Act and every 12 months thereafter (2) Any review under this section must include an assessment of— (a) the impact of this Act on revenue derived from— (i) employment, and (ii) self-employment; and (b) the impact of the revenues under this Act from employment and self-employment on the revenues derived from taxation on— (i) dividends, (ii) rental income, and (iii) other forms of personal income." This new clause would require the Chancellor to report to the House on the impact of the Act on tax revenue derived from different sources of income. New clause 4—Review of impact of Act on business— "(1) The Chancellor of the Exchequer must review the impact of this Act on business and lay a report before the House of Commons within six months of the passing of this Act and every 12 months thereafter (2) Any review under this section must provide a separate analysis of the impact of the Act on the operating costs and profits of— (a) small and medium sized enterprises, (b) large enterprises solely based in the UK, and (c) large multinational enterprises." This new clause would require the Chancellor to report to the House on the impact of the Act on the operating costs and profits of different sizes of business enterprises. New clause 5—Review of equality impact of Act— "(1) The Chancellor of the Exchequer must review the equality impact of this Act and lay a report before the House of Commons within six months of the passing of this Act and every 12 months thereafter. (2) A review under this section must provide a separate analysis of the equality impact of this Act on— (a) income inequality, (b) wealth inequality, (c) geographical inequality, (d) inequality between people with protected characteristics (within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010), and (e) socio-economic status." This new clause would require the Chancellor to report to the House on the equality impact of the Act. New clause 6—Report on levy expenditure shares— "The Chancellor of the Exchequer must report to the House of Commons at the end of each financial year the share of the levy spent on— (a) health care, and (b) social care." This new clause would require the Chancellor to report annually to the House on the share of the levy spent on health care and on social care. New clause 7—Report on levy revenue derived from those in the social care sector— "The Chancellor of the Exchequer must lay a report before the House of Commons within six months of the passing of this Act, and every 12 months thereafter, containing an assessment of the levy revenue derived from those working in the social care sector." This new clause would require the Chancellor to report to the House on levy revenue derived from those working in the social care sector. New clause 10—OTS Assessment of levy and National Insurance increase— "(1) The Office for Tax Simplification shall publish by 30 September 2022 a report assessing the advantages and disadvantages of introducing the health and social care levy in comparison to the increase in National Insurance (2) The report shall include an assessment of the costs of HMRC in collecting the levy and for employers in complying with their obligations in relation to the levy." This new clause would require the OTS to publish by September 2022 its assessment of the merits of the levy in comparison with the increase in National Insurance, including costs of compliance with and collection of the levy.