House of Commons Amendments

Session 2014 - 15
Internet Publications
Other Bills before Parliament

35

House of Commons

Thursday 23 October 2014

Public Bill Committee

New Amendments handed in are marked thus

Amendments which will comply with the required notice period at their next appearance

Childcare Payments Bill

Note

The Amendments have been arranged in accordance with the Order of the

Committee [14 October 2014].

Alex Cunningham

Clause  14,  page  8,  line  36,  at end insert—

“( )
A child is a qualifying child for the purposes of this Act until the last day of the

week in which falls the 1 September following the child’s 11th birthday (or 18th

birthday in the case of a disabled child).”

Catherine McKinnell

Lucy Powell

Clause  15,  page  9,  line  4,  after “may—”, insert—

“( )
amend this Act to allow childcare accounts to be held by persons other

than those specified in subsection (1).”

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment would allow the Government to bring forward regulations to allow for the

provision of Childcare Accounts to be made available to persons receiving childcare support other

than top-up payments.

Catherine McKinnell

Lucy Powell

Clause  15,  page  9,  line  36,  at end insert—

Public Bill Committee:
36

, continued

“(11)
The Chancellor of the Exchequer shall, within three months of Royal Assent,

undertake a review of the impact of subsection (2).

(12)
The report referred to in subsection (11) above must in particular examine and

explore alternative options to the requirement for persons with responsibility for

more than one child to set up more than one childcare account.

(13)
The Chancellor of the Exchequer must publish the report of the review and lay

the report before the House of Commons.”

Catherine McKinnell

Lucy Powell

Clause  16,  page  10,  line  19,  at end insert—

“(5)
The section shall not come into force except as specified in paragraph (a) below.

(a)
The Chancellor of the Exchequer shall bring the section into force by

order within three months of the passing of this Act.

(b)
a statutory instrument containing an order under paragraph (a) shall be

accompanied by a report from the Director and laid before the House of

Commons by the Chancellor of the Exchequer which details—

(i)
a timetable for delivering the new childcare account system;

(ii)
progress to date in developing and preparing for the new system;

(iii)
what provisions are in place to ensure the system is delivered on

time and to budget;

(iv)
what provisions are in place to assist persons without access to

the internet;

(v)
what provisions are in place to ensure financial support can still

be provided in the event of system failures or setbacks; and

(vi)
a package of measures to ensure the account provider, associated

parties and their operations, are effectively monitored.”

Priti Patel

Clause  23,  page  13,  line  33,  at end insert—

“(3)
In a case where—

(a)
a person would (in the absence of this subsection) be required by

subsection (1) or (2) to repay an amount (“the repayable amount”) into a

childcare account, but

(b)
the childcare account has been closed,


the person must pay the repayable amount to the person or body who was the

account provider in relation to the account (“the relevant account provider”).

(4)
The relevant account provider must—

(a)
pay the top-up element of the repayable amount to HMRC, and

(b)
pay the remainder of that amount to the person who held the childcare

account.


(For provision about calculating the top-up element of an amount, see section

21.)”

Member’s explanatory statement

Public Bill Committee:
37

, continued

This amendment provides that, where a childcare account has been closed, amounts which need

to be refunded to the account-holder must be paid to the childcare account provider, who must then

repay the account-holder. This ensures that the top-up element of the repayment is returned to

HMRC.

Alex Cunningham

Clause  29,  page  16,  line  25,  leave out “an award of tax credit is or has been made”

and insert “an award of tax credit which includes the childcare element is or has been

made”

Alex Cunningham

Clause  29,  page  16,  line  40,  after “tax credit”, insert “which includes the childcare

element”

Alex Cunningham

Clause  29,  page  17,  line  2,  after “tax credit”, insert “which includes the childcare

element”

Alex Cunningham

Clause  29,  page  17,  line  10,  after “tax credit”, insert “which includes the childcare

element”

Alex Cunningham

Clause  31,  page  18,  line  43,  after “tax credit”, insert “which includes the childcare

element”

Alex Cunningham

Clause  34,  page  21,  line  3,  after “tax credit”, insert “which includes the childcare

element”

Alex Cunningham

Clause  34,  page  21,  line  14,  after “tax credit”, insert “which includes the childcare

element”

Public Bill Committee:
38

, continued

Alex Cunningham

Clause  35,  page  21,  line  38,  after “tax credit”, insert “which includes the childcare

element”

Alex Cunningham

Clause  35,  page  22,  line  4,  after “tax credit”, insert “which includes the childcare

element”

Priti Patel

Clause  39,  page  24,  line  34,  leave out from “person” to end of line 38 and insert

“fails to make a payment in accordance with a requirement imposed by subsections (1) to

(3) of section 23 (refunds of payments made from childcare accounts),”

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment, and amendment 20, are consequential on amendment 18. They provide that a

childcare provider who does not comply with the requirement to pay the repayable amount to the

account provider is liable to pay the top-up element of the payment to HMRC.

Priti Patel

Clause  39,  page  24,  line  39,  leave out “repayment” and insert “payment”

Member’s explanatory statement

The explanatory statement for amendment 19 also applies to this amendment.

Catherine McKinnell

Lucy Powell

Clause  41,  page  26,  line  22,  leave out “careless or”.

Member’s explanatory statement

This is a probing amendment, intended to establish what would constitute a failure to take

reasonable care and what the impact of that definition might be.

Catherine McKinnell

Lucy Powell

Clause  41,  page  26,  leave out lines 23 and 24.

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment is consequential on amendment 13.

Priti Patel

Clause  42,  page  27,  line  40,  leave out “granted permission” and insert “permitted”

Public Bill Committee:
39

, continued

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment provides that, where HMRC have issued a warning notice to a person to comply

with an information notice and the person is permitted to bring a late appeal against the

information notice without formal approval from the tribunal, the warning notice from HMRC will

have no effect.

Priti Patel

Clause  44,  page  29,  line  22,  leave out “granted permission” and insert “permitted”

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment provides that, where HMRC have issued a warning notice to a person who has

made a prohibited payment and the person is permitted to bring a late appeal against the

assessment for the prohibited payment without formal approval from the tribunal, the warning

notice from HMRC will have no effect.

Priti Patel

Clause  48,  page  31,  line  27,  leave out from “offence,” to end of line 28

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment removes the ability of HMRC to disqualify persons from the scheme because a

penalty for dishonest conduct has been imposed on them under another enactment.

Priti Patel

Clause  55,  page  36,  line  32,  leave out “to make, or not to make,” and insert “as to

whether or not to make or revoke”

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment allows an appeal to be made against a decision by HMRC as to whether or not to

revoke an account restriction order. This means that it will be possible to appeal against any

decision made by HMRC in connection with restrictions on childcare accounts.

Priti Patel

Clause  55,  page  36,  line  35,  leave out “31 or 32” and insert “33”

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment corrects a minor drafting error.

Priti Patel

Clause  55,  page  36,  line  44,  at end insert—

“( )
Where a person is notified of an appealable decision under this Act, the

notification must include details of the person’s right to apply for a review of the

decision and to appeal against the decision.”

Member’s explanatory statement

Public Bill Committee:
40

, continued

This amendment provides that, in relation to any appealable decision, HMRC are required to

inform the person affected by the decision that he or she has a right to apply for a review of the

decision and, subsequently, to an appeal.

Priti Patel

Clause  58,  page  38,  leave out lines 23 to 28

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment and amendment 28 make a minor change in relation to the appeal process. They

ensure that the rules which apply generally in relation to appeals made to the appropriate tribunal

apply here as well.

Priti Patel

Clause  58,  page  38,  line  29,  after “to” insert “the appropriate tribunal.

( )
“The appropriate tribunal” means”

Member’s explanatory statement

The explanatory statement for amendment 27 also applies to this amendment.

Priti Patel

Clause  68,  page  43,  line  34,  leave out from “sections” to end of line 36 and insert

“31 and 32 (disqualification of tax credit or universal credit claimants from obtaining top-

up payments);”

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment makes the Treasury rather than HMRC responsible for making regulations under

clauses 31(6) and 32(6).

Catherine McKinnell

Lucy Powell

Clause  69,  page  44,  line  27,  at end insert—

“( )
regulations repealing section 11.”

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment is consequential on amendment 6.

Catherine McKinnell

Lucy Powell

Clause  69,  page  44,  line  28,  at end insert—

“( )
regulations under section 15 that amend this Act to allow childcare

accounts to be held by persons other than those specified in section

15(1).”

Member’s explanatory statement

Public Bill Committee:
41

, continued

This amendment would make regulations outlined in amendment 10 subject to the approval of both

Houses of Parliament.

Priti Patel

Clause  69,  page  44,  line  31,  at end insert—

“( )
the first regulations under each of sections 31(5) and 32(5);”

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment makes the first regulations made under clauses 31(5) and 32(5) subject to the

affirmative resolution procedure. These regulations will define what will be regarded as a change

of circumstances for the purposes of disqualification from the scheme under clause 33.

Priti Patel

Clause  73,  page  46,  line  11,  at beginning insert “(1) Except as provided by

subsection (2),”.

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment, and amendment 32, ensure that any amendment or repeal made by the Act has

the same extent as the provision amended or repealed.

Priti Patel

Clause  73,  page  46,  line  11,  at end insert—

“(2)
Any amendment or repeal made by this Act has the same extent as the provision

amended or repealed.”

Member’s explanatory statement

The explanatory statement for amendment 31 also applies to this amendment.

Catherine McKinnell

Lucy Powell

Clause  74,  page  46,  line  17,  at end insert—

“(1A)
Sections 11, 12 and 16 come into force as set out in those sections.

Member’s explanatory statement

This amendment is consequential on amendments 5, 8 and 12.

New Clauses

Priti Patel

NC4

To move the following Clause—



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