Select Committee to publish findings this month(2)

The UK Treasury Select Committee investigating private equity will publish its initial findings before parliament’s summer recess on 26 July, according to a committee spokesperson. 

The Treasury would like to see the committee’s report before its own pre-budget report in the autumn, so it can respond to its findings, according to a Treasury representative. 

However, the committee’s spokesperson said there was no guarantee that its findings would be published before the pre-budget report. The committee intends to call more witnesses after the summer break, she said.

Meanwhile Alastair Darling, the newly appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, has hinted that he may introduce changes to private equity tax structure in the pre-budget report or in the next budget, according to UK newspaper the Guardian. 

Darling told the paper that he wanted a fair tax system – but reiterated that that he would not make knee-jerk changes to the current structure. “There are examples where private equity has brought money in and helped people restructure and carry on trading. Of course, the tax system has to be fair but before you change it you have to have regard to what the consequences will be,” he said.