43 Undeclared work
| (24850)
12196/03
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| Draft Council Resolution on transforming undeclared work into regular employment.
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| Legal base | — |
| Document originated | 3 September 2003
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| Deposited in Parliament | 9 September 2003
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| Department | Inland Revenue
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 1 October 2003
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| Previous Committee Report | None; but see (19065) 7663/98: HC 155-xxx (1997-98), paragraph 19 (10 June 1998)
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| To be discussed in Council | 20 October 2003
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Background
43.1 In June 1998 our predecessors reported their clearance of
a Commission Communication on undeclared work[86]
which was intended to promote a debate on the causes of undeclared
work and on the policy options for combating it.
The document
43.2 This draft Resolution is the latest move at European Union
level to address the problem of undeclared work, both in relation
to tax evasion, benefit fraud and illegal immigration and to encouraging
regular employment. It is intended to reinforce the political
message that effective action against undeclared work is required
in all Member States, and to encourage Member States to take positive
action on undeclared work in the context of the European Employment
Strategy. The draft is built around the existing Employment Guideline
9, which deals with undeclared work, in National Action Plans
drawn up under the Employment Strategy. It encourages action on
undeclared work in Member States rather than imposing any new
obligations.
The Government's view
43.3 The Chief Secretary to the Treasury (Paul Boateng) tells
us that the draft deposited has already been modified in working
group negotiations. He says, basing himself on the revised text:
"There are a number of strands to the actions that the
Resolution calls upon Member States to undertake. None have any
direct policy implications.
"The first strand …. is specifically
to take account of actions to combat undeclared work in compiling
future National Action Plans as part of the European Employment
Strategy. Member States, including the UK, have already signed
up to do this and in particular Guideline 9 in the National Action
Plans is specifically about the fight against undeclared work.
"The second is to co-operate with other
Member States in considering any common features of undeclared
work that might best be approached by a common approach….
This work would be purely exploratory and there is no commitment
to implement any common approach.
"The third …. is to develop a comprehensive
approach to tackling undeclared work within the European employment
strategy. A number of measures that could be included in such
an approach are listed. The UK, following on from the findings
of Lord Grabiner in his Report on the Informal Economy in March
2000, already has in place a comprehensive package of measures
featuring many of the ideas listed in the draft resolution.
"The final strand is to endeavour to improve
the understanding of the extent of the problem of undeclared work
— an area by definition extremely hard to measure….
It is clear that the intention is that Member States should make
better use of existing data in order to do this — there
is no suggestion that any costs should be incurred in new data-gathering
exercises.
"The final sections of the draft Resolution
…. simply call upon social partners to support the fight
against undeclared work and invite the Commission to study the
issue further at EU level.
"While some of the language of the revised
draft needs to be tightened, for example to ensure that references
to EU process reflect current arrangements, the broad thrust of
the Resolution is consistent with the Government's overall approach
to undeclared work."
Conclusion
43.4 This draft Resolution addresses an important
but difficult problem. We are content to clear the document.
86 See headnote. Back
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