Enterprise Bill [HL]

Lord Hunt of Wirral Excerpts

Monday 2nd November 2015 Grand Committee

Debate on whether Clause 22 should stand part of the Bill.

[Lord Hunt of Wirral (Con)]

My Lords, in declaring my interests as set out in the register, I welcome the opportunity to discuss the circumstances in which HMRC may disclose information. Although Clause 22 is drafted specifically to deal with the disclosure of information in connection with non-domestic rating, there are other circumstances in which disclosure by HMRC to certain other bodies is not only necessary but desirable.

The Employers’ Liability Tracing Office is one such example. ELTO was established in 2010 to assist injured people in finding the employers’ liability insurer which covered their employer at the relevant time. Since April 2011, it has been a regulatory requirement for EL insurers to provide details of all EL policies issued, as well as some historic data. ELTO’s aim is to create a comprehensive database of insured employers and the compulsory cover provided to them. The drive behind the creation of ELTO was to build a historic record of past insurance, particularly for victims of diseases with a long latency period, such as those caused by asbestos exposure.

However, the main long-term purpose of ELTO is to create a comprehensive and easily searchable database of current policies, which can avoid problems many years into the future. In order to make the database accurate, so that in 30 years’ time a person injured by past exposure to substances at the hands of their employer can trace the right insurance cover which should meet that claim, the database needs to find what IT people know as the “unique identifier”, which confirms beyond doubt that the right company has been identified.

In the case of employers, that unique piece of information is provided by the employer registration number used by HMRC. The ERN is the number now used in the Pay As You Earn system to identify individual employers. Armed with the ERNs, the database would become truly fit for purpose. ELTO has been pressing HMRC for disclosure of ERN data, but HMRC claims that the law prevents it doing so. Assuming for the moment that HMRC may be right—it rarely pays to argue with the taxman—there is a simple solution, and Clause 22 shows us the way. Where the law is an obstacle to better working, it can be amended. That is, after all, the main purpose of this Bill.

I am therefore considering whether a short amendment to the Bill could resolve this problem. I would welcome a further discussion if the Minister and her hard-working team ever have time to do so to see how best we could proceed. The ELTO database has been introduced precisely because people suffering genuine injury in the future as a result of their employer’s negligence will need easy access to details of the insurance policy that will meet that claim.

Finally, speaking as president of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Occupational Safety and Health, I would like noble Lords to know that the all-party group is very supportive of the need to make the database accessible, accurate and searchable.

[Baroness Neville-Rolfe]

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for raising the issue of data sharing between HMRC and the Employers’ Liability Tracing Office. HMRC has already specifically amended its processes to provide employer reference numbers and employment histories when requested by individual applicants. Further, I believe any amendment to allow data sharing between HMRC and the Employers’ Liability Tracing Office would be outside the scope of this Bill.

I understand that, as well as the normal concerns about taxpayers’ confidentiality, HMRC is concerned that disclosing all employer reference numbers would raise issues regarding proportionality and, of course, in today’s circumstances, the potential for fraud. Therefore, I do not think the Bill is the best place to bring forward such a widespread change, but I would be happy to meet my noble friend to understand more about the issue. However, I believe that Clause 22 should stand part of the Bill.