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Export Controls

Lord Davies of Oldham: My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (David Lammy) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

I have today laid before both Houses of Parliament the revised statutory guidance on the criteria to be taken into consideration when making a decision about whether or not to grant an export licence, as required under the Export Control Act 2002.

National Insurance Contributions Bill 2005

Lord McKenzie of Luton: My right honourable friend the Paymaster General (Dawn Primarolo) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

To assist in further consideration of the National Insurance Contributions Bill, introduced to Parliament on 27 October, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs is today publishing draft regulations in respect of:

the first use of the powers in the Bill to backdate national insurance liability to reflect the provisions in Schedule 2 to the Finance (No. 2) Act 2005;

proscribing an additional statement to be contained in future forms of national insurance elections that will make it clear that the election cannot transfer backdated employer's national insurance liabilities to their employees. The regulation is to be made using powers in the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992; and

extending the tax avoidance disclosure rules to national insurance.

Copies of the draft regulations have been placed in the Library of the House and will be available on the HMRC website.

Pensions

Lord McKenzie of Luton: My honourable friend the Economic Secretary (Ivan Lewis) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

The new simplified regime for the taxation of pensions begins on 6 April 2006. I can today announce that registered pension schemes will be permitted to submit reports and returns in paper form for at least six months
 
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before the requirement to submit information online becomes mandatory.

HMRC's Pension Schemes Online service will become available over a number of releases throughout 2006–07. Pension scheme administrators and practitioners will be able to meet most of their statutory filing requirements online at the time that they are required, but paper returns and reporting will also be offered as a supplementary means of filing for a limited period.

HMRC will continue to work closely with the industry over the forthcoming months to support the implementation of the new regime. HMRC will hold discussions with the pensions industry and software suppliers to establish what issues the delay may present and how best to address them, before moving to a mandatory online filing regime.

The delay will not affect HMRC's ability to deliver pensions tax simplification on 6 April 2006. The vast majority of pension schemes and their members will also not be affected by the delay. The new pensions regime heralds greater opportunities for 15 million pension savers to save more into a pension scheme and enjoy the associated flexibilities around contributions and the taking of retirement benefits.

Reserve Forces: Afghanistan

Lord Drayson: My right honourable friend the Minister of State for the Armed Forces (Adam Ingram) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

With the expiry of the call-out order made last October, a new order has been made under Section 54 of the Reserve Forces Act 1996 to enable reservists to continue to be called out into service to support operations in Afghanistan. The new order is effective until 31 October 2006. Reservists have made a valuable contribution to operations in that country, and some 63 reservists were called out under the order made last year.

Social Fund

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath): My honourable friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (James Plaskitt) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

My right honourable friend the Secretary of State will be making a number of minor changes to the discretionary social fund, with effect from 14 November 2005. The changes to the fund are minor clarifications of guidance and directions, and, in the main, are consequential to legislative changes made in respect of other social security benefits.

Details of the changes have been placed in the Library.

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