To ask Her Majesty's Government what advice they have issued to the Valuation Office Agency concerning the collection of arrears of backdated business rates from port-side operators as a result of the revaluation in 2005.

To ask Her Majesty's Government what advice they have issued to the Valuation Office Agency concerning the collection of arrears of backdated business rates from port-side operators as a result of the revaluation in 2005.

My Lords, I am pleased to open the debate on the Fiscal Responsibility Bill. I intend to provide a general overview of the key provisions of this important Bill and the background to it. As my right honourable friend the Chancellor explained in the other place, the Government have set...

My Lords, I am pleased to open the debate on the Fiscal Responsibility Bill. I intend to provide a general overview of the key provisions of this important Bill and the background to it. As my right honourable friend the Chancellor explained in the other place, the Government have set...

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who contributed to the debate. It has been a very wide-ranging debate in which many issues have been raised, all of which I found very interesting and have noted. One feature common to all the speeches was a clear commitment to the need...

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who contributed to the debate. It has been a very wide-ranging debate in which many issues have been raised, all of which I found very interesting and have noted. One feature common to all the speeches was a clear commitment to the need...

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Lawson, for that intervention. The scale of the Government’s approach to fiscal management is made very clear in the supporting schedules to the Pre-Budget Report. There is absolute clarity there about the glide path to fiscal responsibility that my right honourable friend the Chancellor...

I thank the noble Lord, Lord Lawson, for that intervention. The scale of the Government’s approach to fiscal management is made very clear in the supporting schedules to the Pre-Budget Report. There is absolute clarity there about the glide path to fiscal responsibility that my right honourable friend the Chancellor...

I was going to come to that point when I dealt with the interventions of the noble Lord, Lord Newby. I had already written on my notepad that this was clearly a matter into which I should look, and that I will owe a letter to the noble Lord. I...

I was going to come to that point when I dealt with the interventions of the noble Lord, Lord Newby. I had already written on my notepad that this was clearly a matter into which I should look, and that I will owe a letter to the noble Lord. I...

I am afraid that I did not see the newspaper interview to which the noble Lord, Lord Lamont, refers and therefore cannot comment on it. Quite clearly, however, there is a commitment contained in this Bill and in our financial plans significantly to reduce the deficit. As I was saying,...

I am afraid that I did not see the newspaper interview to which the noble Lord, Lord Lamont, refers and therefore cannot comment on it. Quite clearly, however, there is a commitment contained in this Bill and in our financial plans significantly to reduce the deficit. As I was saying,...

That the Bill be read a second time.

That the Bill be read a second time.

Noble Lords would not expect me to come to Parliament on the basis of number work that I had done on my own. They would be suspicious that I had started with the answer I sought and that I had done the arithmetic to arrive at that answer. The information...

Noble Lords would not expect me to come to Parliament on the basis of number work that I had done on my own. They would be suspicious that I had started with the answer I sought and that I had done the arithmetic to arrive at that answer. The information...

Fiscal Responsibility Bill. Lords second reading debate. Agreed to on question. Committee negatived. Standing Order 47 having been dispensed with, the Bill was read a third time (formal) and passed.

Fiscal Responsibility Bill. Lords second reading debate. Agreed to on question. Committee negatived. Standing Order 47 having been dispensed with, the Bill was read a third time (formal) and passed.

My right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Alistair Darling) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. The Economic and Financial Affairs Council will be held in Brussels on 19 January 2010. The following items are on the agenda. Legislative deliberations Taxation Savings tax directive—ECOFIN will discuss proposed amendments...

My right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Alistair Darling) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement. The Economic and Financial Affairs Council will be held in Brussels on 19 January 2010. The following items are on the agenda. Legislative deliberations Taxation Savings tax directive—ECOFIN will discuss proposed amendments...