§ Mr. David StewartTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on his policy on the use of sunset clauses in legislation; and which Acts containing such clauses relevant to his Department were passed in each year since 1997. [149335]
§ Ruth KellyHM Treasury, together with the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise, actively promote the better regulation agenda and the use of sunsetting provisions where appropriate.
The need for any such provision is considered on a case-by-case basis. Every Finance Act, for example, contains some provisions which apply only for the purposes of the particular tax year to which it relates, and accordingly, these provisions may be considered to be sunset provisions.
Particular cases of Finance Act sunsetting provisions are section 107(5) of the Finance Act 2001 (which incorporated a sunset provision applicable to that section only) and section 112 of the Finance Act 2003 (which contains a time-limited power, which was exercisable only before the implementation of Part 4 of that Act on 1 December 2003, to amend the provisions of that Part).
Some of the transitional provisions connected with the coming into force of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ceased to have effect on a certain date.