Oral Answers to Questions: Treasury: Topical Questions 24 April 2008

John Penrose (Weston-Super-Mare, Conservative)
If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities

Alistair Darling (Chancellor of the Exchequer, HM Treasury; Edinburgh South West, Labour) The core purpose of the Treasury remains to ensure the stability of the economy, to promote growth and to manage the public finances. Last week, the new figures showed that employment in the United Kingdom had reached a new record of 29.5 million people, which demonstrates the underlying strength and resilience of our economy.

John Penrose (Weston-Super-Mare, Conservative)
In an earlier response, Ms Clark responded to a question about the rescue package for the 10p rate of tax by saying that she could not reveal, or did not know, all the details in that package. Given the sensitivities on both sides of the House, and given the fact that another member of the Chancellor's Front-Bench team was reluctant to reveal other details last night in the press, will the Chancellor answer two very straightforward questions about the contents of the package? First, which elements of it will and will not be—

Michael Martin (Speaker)
Order. A supplementary, especially at topical questions, should be brief, and certainly two supplementaries is just not on.

John Penrose (Weston-Super-Mare, Conservative)
I bow to your point, Mr. Speaker. Which elements of the 10p tax rescue package will and will not be backdated?

Alistair Darling (Chancellor of the Exchequer, HM Treasury; Edinburgh South West, Labour)
I think that I am right in saying that my hon. Friend Ms Clark asked a question rather than sought to answer it. On the proposals, I set out in a letter to the Chairman of the Treasury Committee how I propose to proceed, both in relation to a specific group—people between the ages of 60 and 64, whose incomes do not change that much and for whom there is a readily available mechanism for additional payments through the winter fuel payment—and in relation to everybody else who was affected. I said that there were certain areas that I wanted to look at in relation to tax credits and the national minimum wage, and that I would be setting out proposals and would return to the matter in the pre-Budget report. That is what I said at the weekend and in the letter to the Treasury Committee, which set out quite clearly how I intend to proceed.