Finance Bill

I agree with the Financial Secretary that we have had a good debate this afternoon. My hon. Friends the Members for Ludlow (Mr. Dunne) and for Braintree (Mr. Newmark) and my right hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood) have highlighted some of the issues for business caused by the delays in VAT registrations and repayments. Indeed, the hon. Member for Falmouth and Camborne (Julia Goldsworthy) supported the objectives of new clause 4. I am grateful to the Financial Secretary for clearly acknowledging the difficulties. He has referred to 95 per cent. of VAT registration cases being determined within 38 days, which is somewhat above the 21-day HMRC target. He has been clear that problems are evident, and he has recognised the difficulties for businesses and that some of the delays are ““unacceptable””. The Financial Secretary adopted a slightly different tone than has sometimes been the case for Ministers. On 24 January in evidence to the Treasury Committee, the Paymaster General did not seem to recognise the difficulties. None the less, I appreciate the tone adopted by the hon. Gentleman. He has been clear that he sees this as a temporary dip. Obviously we will watch the situation closely to see whether the steps that he outlined that HMRC is taking to address this succeed in meeting those objectives. If next year improvements have not been achieved, we will look at the matter again. However, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the motion. Motion and clause, by leave, withdrawn.