The chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, Rt Hon. Andrew Tyrie MP, recently wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon. Philip Hammond MP, to inform him that the Committee disagrees with his predecessor’s decision not to consent to a recommendation that the Committee be given the right of veto over the appointment and dismissal of the Officer for Tax Simplification’s Chair and Tax Director.

In order to be successful, the Committee says the OTS must be in a position to provide the Government with robust, dispassionate and high-quality advice, which can only be improved if those charged with providing it are independent, and seen to be so. This issue sits independently of the breadth of their scope for making recommendations, which is clearly set out in the provisions of the Finance Bill that put the OTS on a statutory footing.

An amendment has been proposed to the Finance Bill to give statutory effect to this recommendation.