HC Deb 19 March 1963 vol 674 cc336-9

Motion made, and Question proposed, That the National Coal Board (Valuation) Order, 1963, dated 1st March, 1963, a copy of which was laid before this House on 7th March, be approved.—[Mr. Corfield.]

Mr. Emrys Hughes (South Ayrshire)

On a point of order. Are we not to have an explanation of this Order? We have admired the very eloquent and persuasive and detailed explanation of the Parliamentary Secretary, but we are entitled to some further explanation of this rather mysterious and vague Order. We want to see how the Treasury is facing up to this question of National Coal Board valuations.

9.41 p.m.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Housing and Local Government (Mr. F. V. Corfield)

This is the first Order made under Section 3 of the Rating and Valuation Act, 1961, which empowers my right hon. Friend to specify the method of valuing certain types of property for rating purposes. The object is to simplify and add certainty to the process of valuation. Despite the length and detail of the Order, I am assured that it will achieve that object. Hon. Members may feel that the complexities existing before the Order were considerable. The Order relates to property only in England and Wales, property occupied by the National Coal Board in connection with coal production. It takes effect on 1st April next, the day on which the new valuation lists come into force, and the values in the lists have been ascertained accordingly.

The starting point of the scheme is the rateable values of the various Coal Board properties in the present valuation lists. These first have to be adjusted in accordance with the changes in the output of coal in the intervening period, then for additional liabilities of the Coal Board in respect of subsidence compensation, for industrial rerating, and for the development of values between 1956, when the last lists were made, and 1963.

In future, the values attached to the mines and opencast workings will vary from year to year according to the coal output. At revaluations there will be a general adjustment of values to allow for the change in the level of values in other mineral working industries as a whole. The comparison is made with mines and quarries, but not with those extracting industries, such as brickmaking, where there is confusion between extraction and production. In this way, Coal Board values will keep pace with the values of other properties of the same class.

I should add that there is a requirement in Section 3 (4) of the Act and my right hon. Friend, following that requirement, has consulted the Coal Board, the local authority associations and the London County Council about the Order, I assure the House that the scheme which it embodies commands the support of all those bodies.

The enabling Section to which I have referred requires the Minister, in consultation with the same parties, to carry out a full review of the working of the Order in 1968–69 and to lay a report before Parliament. Although the Order is very long, and I think the hon. Member for Fulham (Mr. M. Stewart) will agree not easily assimilated, I am assured that it will greatly facilitate valuations in what cannot be described as a simple field, and I hope that the House will approve the Order.

9.45 p.m.

Mr. Michael Stewart (Fulham)

I think that we are now a little better informed about the contents of the Order than we were after the hon. Gentleman's first speech. I think that the House would do right to approve the Order.

This is an important matter, and its importance has been highlighted by the many comments that are being made by domestic ratepayers about rates. Whatever else one may say about that, it is important to be able to assure domestic ratepayers as a whole that the share of the rates being paid by other people, by industry, by commerce, and by the nationalised industries, is at any rate their fair share of the rates, and the object of this Order is to ensure both that they pay their fair share, and that the method of calculating it is as simple as possible.

It is not possible to make it very simple. It is an obscure and difficult matter trying to apply the concept of rating to the properties of the National Coal Board, but when the relevant Act was under consideration the House considered very carefully how this ought to be done and approved the method of which this Order is now an example, and as I follow the Order it appears to have carried out quite properly the intentions of the Act.

I notice with interest that in trying to calculate what is the joint effect of revaluation and rerating on mineral working hereditaments as a whole throughout the country the conclusion that has been come to is that one ought to multiply it by a factor of two and five-sixths. I think that this is a good deal less than the factor by which industry as a whole is multiplied, but I take it that this is due to the fact that for this purpose the values of purely extractive industries have not gone up by as much as manufacturing processes, and that is what one would expect.

Those who are concerned for the finances of the National Coal Board will, I think, be glad to notice that allowance is made for the special charges that it has had to meet in respect of subsidence, and those who are concerned about the revenues of local authorities will be glad to know that the final result has the approval of all the local authority associations and the London County Council.

I half expected to see the hon. Member for Kidderminster (Sir G. Nabarro) and the hon. Member for Bournemouth, West (Mr. Eden) here in view of the great anxieties they have displayed on previous occasions that nationalised industries should pay their full share of the rates. However, they have left it to the rest of us to be the guardians of the ratepayers on this occasion.

I suppose one must congratulate the Government on the fact that in this rating field at any rate they have managed to arrive at a conclusion which is agreeable both to the persons who will be paying the rates and to the local authorities who will be receiving them. They will not encounter that experience in any other rating matter. I believe that in general this is carrying out properly the intentions of the Act, and, so far as we can do it within the general framework of rating, reaching a solution which is as simple as a matter of this kind can be, and that it holds the balance fairly between the National Coal Board and other ratepayers.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved, That the National Coal Board (Valuation) Order. 1963, dated 1st March, 1963, a copy of which was laid before this House on 7th March, be approved.