Health and Social Care Levy Bill

It is a great pleasure to be here today to explain the clauses in this Bill.

The Social Sec...

If we are talking about an insurance system, can the Government explain why they have ruled out s...

In the collective sense, this is a state insurance system, because it is making long-term provisi...

As I understand it, it is the Government’s wish that the social care levy should appear as a sepa...

That is a helpful suggestion. I do not think there will be any ambiguity in the language on the s...

I would like to ask the Minister, as he has such responsibilities across the board, whether he ha...

My hon. Friend has successfully dragooned a topic that has nothing to do with national insurance ...

The fact that the social care levy will be introduced in 2023 and not 2022, and that in the inter...

That was a series of questions. The payslips that people are given will be generated by their own...

rose—

Order. Just before Dr Murrison makes a further intervention, can I ask the Minister please to fac...

I do apologise, Mr Evans.

Just to clarify my thinking on this matter, is that £50 million to £60 million a one-off or a rec...

I think it is the set-up cost, although it may be incurred over more than one year. As I say, it ...

My right hon. Friend talks about the advantages of having clarity on payslips about what people a...

My hon. Friend rightly points out that an element of NICs is already hypothecated, which is somet...

Building on the point made by my right hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham (John Redwood), is no...

I think it will, which is why the Government have decided to make this rather important change. I...

Would it not be even simpler and more transparent if we had a social care levy standing on its ow...

I do not think that is true at all. The reason for putting it on the payslip is so that taxpayers...

If it is about social care, why do we not have an exclusive levy relating to social care? Would t...

My hon. Friend invites us to think of social care as a completely separate thing, but of course t...

Will the Minister give way?

The hon. Gentleman has not featured in the debate so far, so I will make a bit more progress befo...

On the point made by the hon. Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope), one reason the Gov...

It is helpful to have a diagnosis of why Labour Members might be opposed to or worried by this, b...

If the Government believe in a social care system that is free at the point of use, why are they ...

I do not know whether the hon. Lady heard, but I was talking about the NHS and that has been a fo...

I do not know whether the Minister has read the note from the Hansard Society on this, but it is ...

The Treasury already consults the devolved Administrations very closely on many aspects of tax po...

On clause 2, in 2014 we passed the Care Act and accepted the Dilnot proposals; slightly less than...

I thank my right hon. Friend for his question. I think the point is perfectly clear: this levy is...

As well as on businesses, the levy will have a large effect on the bills of public services. For ...

The plan is clear that, to the extent that national insurance contributions are incurred by publi...

Does my right hon. Friend have any rough estimate of the cost to business of having to comply wit...

It is true that, just in relation to the levy, business will bear some cost and the existing tax ...

I would just like an indication of who will want to make independent speeches by bobbing—thank yo...

As we turn to the Bill’s Committee stage, I will address the new clauses tabled in my name and th...

I am someone who has believed in getting cross-party consensus on the future of social care fundi...

Let us be really clear about what the shadow Care Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Leicest...

Will the hon. Member give way?

I am going to make some progress now; I have given way to the hon. Gentleman already.

As I ...

We are getting more granularity in the proposals that Opposition Front Benchers have in their hea...

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his intervention, but I do feel that there is a broad consen...

My intention with amendment 7, which I have tabled with esteemed colleagues, was to try to get th...

I am sympathetic to the point that my hon. Friend is making. In principle it is a very good point...

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. The truth is that, yes, I have thought about that, a...

I have been listening carefully to my hon. Friend and what he has said has a great deal of merit....

I do not think that the amendment would remove any of the Treasury’s discretion in clause 2; all ...

It is a remarkable feat indeed that the Government have managed to unite the left-wing press, the...

I declare an interest as a practising NHS doctor. Will the hon. Member reflect on the fact that t...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention and for the tone in which it was made, and I shal...

I come at this debate from a slightly different angle. When we first heard rumours of a tax rise ...

I am afraid that I must correct myself. It is actually £40 million to £50 million, rather than £5...

Perhaps the Minister was building in some optimism bias, as the Treasury normally does to other p...

My hon. Friend is such an expert on this. Has he probed or got anywhere with finding out how much...

I assume that my right hon. Friend is right that, if we reduce the number of people in work or re...

With your permission, Dame Eleanor, I will speak to new clauses 3 and 5, tabled my hon. Friends t...

I have worries about hypothecation. I thought the Treasury used to be against it and it is a diff...

I am listening carefully to my right hon. Friend. Does he share my concern that there may be an e...

I was with my right hon. Friend until his last recommendation. He had pre-empted what I was going...

My right hon. Friend is being very generous in giving way. May I just clarify my intent? It would...

I do not think that that is possible at all. Property costs vary to an incredible degree across t...

I am speaking in support of new clause 3, which would require the Chancellor to look at different...

I thank the hon. Gentleman for giving way, and I would also like to welcome the hon. Member for N...

I had actually finished my remarks, but I would be happy to take this up with the hon. Gentleman ...

I have to say I was not quite sure about that. I thought that the hon. Member for Leeds East (Ric...

It is a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for Leeds East (Richard Burgon). He talked about alter...

It is useful that Members on both sides of the Committee are coming clean with all sorts of ideas...

I thought that might be the hon. Gentleman’s response. Today we are talking about social care as ...

indicated assent.

I am delighted to see that my right hon. Friend thinks that is a good idea. I hope we will get so...

My hon. Friend is making an interesting speech. Does he think that as a lot of civil servants now...

That is another excellent idea. I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for the suggestion, but I f...

I thank colleagues for their contributions to the debate. It has been very wide ranging—especiall...

To be absolutely clear, the question that I was putting to the Minister was: where in the Bill is...

The Bill is designed to fund the plan and the plan has been published. The plan is perfectly expl...

In the Conservative party manifesto almost two years ago, we promised that we would reform social...

It is very hard for me to comment on such a remote hypothetical, but the fact of the matter is, a...

Order. I would be grateful if the Minister would address the Chair.

I am so sorry, Dame Eleanor. I am rightly chastised and thank you for that point.

My hon. F...

I beg to move, That the Bill be now read the Third time.

I am grateful to all right hon. an...

I thank the Clerks for their excellent and particularly rapid help with amendments to the Bill.