FIRST SCHEDULE.—(Provisions for adjustment of rates payable in certain counties.) (Hansard, 13 March 1946)

Mr. EdeM

I beg to move, in page 19, line 22, after "standard," to insert "police.''

There are a number of other Amendments, a rather formidable looking list, to this Schedule which I hope can be considered with this one. This is the Schedule which was introduced in to the Bill to enable the escalator Clause to be worked. As worded when it was introduced in Committee, it involved the calculation of a notional police rate which would in fact not be the police rate that would be levied in the counties where a non-county borough had been absorbed into the county police force. The difference of more than 2d. in the £ had in consequence been made in the rating of the non-county borough. As worded, the Schedule would really restrict the county to levying a mathematically correct rate for the expenses that they would incur during the course of the year. No matter what the theory may be, it is, in practice, quite impossible to levy a mathematically accurate rate, which might involve calcu- 1219 lations to two or three places of decimals, in order to make quite sure that the county balances were neither increased nor decreased as a result of the year's working.

These Amendments enable the county, in raising its police rate, to adopt the usual procedure of either absorbing balances, or possibly adding a little to balances, as a result of the actual working of the administration of the police fund during the year. The non-county borough which was to benefit, will receive exactly the same amount of benefit under the revised wording as it would receive under the old wording. There is the additional advantage that it will not be necessary in future in counties to have a separate police fund because inasmuch as the police rate will be levied over the whole of the county and not merely that part of the county which is outside the area having its own non-county borough police powers, it will be a general county charge, and not a special county charge to be levied only on part of the county.

9.15 p.m.

These Amendments are an administrative convenience, which will not inflict any injury on anyone, and will confer considerable benefits on county treasurers and county finance committees who have to deal with the calculation of the amount to be raised in the county. I, therefore, hope that this Amendment and the ones which follow will commeno themselves to the House As the hon. Member for West-bury (Mr. Grimston) knows, this problem was raised rather late in the Committee stage. We inserted the Schedule so that we might have something on which to work. As a matter of fact, we had not had the final views of the County Councils' Association on the matter on the day when the subject was considered in Committee, and these Amendments have been brought forward in the light of the representations we have received from the County Councils Association, on whom the responsibility will rest of making the calculations and levying the rates.