The Treasury has begun an inquiry into concerns that details of changes to bank taxes were disclosed before Chancellor John Healey delivered his Budget last month. The Treasury Committee, a cross-party group of MPs that oversees Treasury work, raised the alarm after Bloomberg published accurate information that the bank corporation tax surcharge would not return to its previous 8% level, making the measures less severe than the banking sector had feared. The committee chairwoman, Labour MP Dame Meg Hillier, said the early disclosure of this market-sensitive information may have triggered a rise in bank share prices.
The Treasury permanent secretary, James Bowler, responded to the committee's concerns by saying he had been assured that no banks, their representatives or trade bodies received advance briefing on the tax changes before the Chancellor's statement. However, he acknowledged that on the day of the Budget itself, there was a necessary expansion in the number of government officials with knowledge of the measures to allow for their proper delivery. Those involved are bound by strict confidentiality rules and should not disclose such information to the media or financial markets participants, he said.
The Government Security Group in the Cabinet Office will lead the investigation. Dame Meg responded with scepticism to both the Treasury's reassurances and the launch of the inquiry itself. She said she suspected the investigation would find no evidence of wrongdoing but would provide fresh assurances about future security, describing this as a recurring pattern of fruitless inquiries. The Treasury still needs to explain how market-sensitive information likely to influence bank share prices was circulating in newsrooms before Parliament received it, she said.
Mr Healey is scheduled to appear before the Treasury Committee on Wednesday afternoon, with the Budget and these disclosure concerns expected to be central to the session.