Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Hansard, 31 October 1984)

§ 9. Mr. Craigen
asked the Secretary of State for Scotland when he will be meeting representatives of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to discuss housing and rating matters in Scotland.

§ Mr. Younger
My hon. Friend the Minister with responsibility for home affairs and the environment in Scotland met representatives of the convention on 8 and 29 October to discuss these matters and further meetings will be held at the beginning of December.

§ Mr. Craigen
I understand that the provisional revaluation assessments was one of the matters discussed with COSLA. Will the Secretary of State assure Scotland's ratepayers that there is no way in which the Government will approve a shift of 16 per cent. in the burden of rates towards domestic ratepayers without in any way compensating householders through additional domestic relief which is not at the expense of either the needs or the resources elements of the rate support grant?

§ Mr. Younger
That matter was raised at the most recent meeting that my hon. Friend has with COSLA. As the hon. Gentleman will know, that is part of the normal procedure for a revaluation. We have not yet had the final figures from the assessors as to what is likely to happen. When I have those figures I shall consider carefully whether there are any inequalities that need to be put right, and, if so, to what extent I can do anything about them.

§ Mr. Wilson
Is not the Secretary of State disguising a fact that is already known, that on current trends there is likely to be the swing that has been mentioned? Does he regret that in the past four or five years he did not bring in the programme of rates reform which he urged in the 1979 Conservative manifesto?

§ Mr. Younger
If the hon. Gentleman means that the present rating system should be altered in some way I have no doubt that he will have ways to put that. This is only concerned with the ways in which the current revaluation system works and there is nothing new or unusual about that. When one sees the spendthrift actions of some councils it makes one think how happy we would we all be if there were some other form of taxation for them to pile on to us at this time.

§ Mr. Michael Forsyth
Does my right hon. Friend accept that there will be some disappointment that there is not a willingness to discuss an alternative to the rating system? Will he take the opportunity of the meeting to discuss whether it might be possible to amend the guidelines in such a way that they do not offer an advantage to the high spenders at the expense of the low-spending, often Conservative-controlled authorities in Scotland?

§ Mr. Younger
I appreciate my hon. Friend's last point. As he will know, the new system for splitting up the general abatement is now much fairer—in fact, almost completely fair—to authorities. That goes a long way to meet the point that my hon. Friend made.

§ Mr. Lambie
Why is the right hon. Gentleman going ahead with another revaluation in Scotland when the previous revaluation in England and Wales took place in 1973 and when the Government have postponed any further revaluation there? In view of the rumours, as my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow, Maryhill (Mr. Craigen) said, of increases of about 16 per cent. facing Scottish domestic ratepayers as a result of the next revaluation, is it not about time that the Government considered postponing the 1985 revaluation and bringing us into line with England and Wales?

§ Mr. Younger
The objective of a revaluation is a narrow one, and that is to re-establish the relative positions of various properties and types of property within the rating system to try to ensure that, as near as possible, they are assessed fairly in relation to each other. To that extent, to put off the revaluation would be to perpetuate the unfairnesses to some Scottish ratepayers in some categories. That is why it is much fairer to all concerned to go ahead with the new valuation.