Fraud: Staffing Levels

Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe Excerpts

Monday 9th May 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Sassoon]

My Lords, I suppose it is my fault for raising the FSA in my Answer, even though it is not a government agency and therefore, more than the other bodies we have been talking about, manages its own affairs. I would not for one moment, though, agree with the noble Lord’s assertion about the state of staffing at the FSA, which continues to do an important and extremely difficult job—albeit within a flawed regulatory structure. We have been through rounds of consultation. If we brought the legislation forward too quickly, I would be criticised about the lack of pre-legislative consultation and scrutiny. It is coming forward with due speed because, as the noble Lord recognises, this is a big mess that we have to clean up, we have to get it right this time, and we will do so.

[Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe]

Will the noble Lord be prepared to place in the Library the response that he gets from his colleagues to the question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Newby? Secondly, in that reply, will he give details on the number of HMRC revenue offices that will be closing annually between now and 2014?