Social Security, Occupational Pension Schemes and Statutory Payments (Consequential Provisions) Regulations 2007

I appreciate that point and look forward to that occasion with undue enthusiasm, as the Committee will recognise. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof; so for the moment I will concentrate on the issues that the noble Baroness raised on these regulations. As I see it, these will not end in tears just yet but will in due course produce regulations that may cause us to relapse into tears. At the moment, it is just expressions of regret. The noble Baroness addressed the delay of the regulations. I was a little concerned about the question on publicity, but I have the address. I would hesitate to read out a long and complicated website address, but if I find it I will certainly ensure that the noble Baroness has the address at the end of the sitting. That might satisfy the Committee. I can assure her that it has been put on the website. I am sorry that the signposts were not good enough to give her the assistance she needed. That is an important point, as we all know as we try to find our way round the complexities of websites. I will have a look at that and see whether it is in a more obscure corner than it should be. For the time being, and for the satisfaction of the Committee, the address is www.hmrc.gov.uk/employers/nicbill05.htm. I will furnish a copy of that address to the noble Baroness at the end of our deliberations. The noble Baroness said that the consultation has been over-lengthy. She is bound to be critical about that because the regulations have a retrospective quality to them. I imagine that she would like them to take effect almost immediately the Bill becomes an Act. I understand that point. It is an easier demand to make in opposition than to fulfil in government, where it is quite clear that we have to go through the processes of consultation. These are not easy issues. If they were easy issues to handle, we would not need the regulations in the first place. The noble Baroness knows why we have the concept of ““future retrospection””, if I can get my head around the tenses embodied in that. We have that because only after a time can we identify the nature of certain tax avoidance strategies that need to be dealt with. The noble Lord, Lord Newby, asked whether they were necessary.