Council Tax (Hansard, 24 February 1993)

§ 7. Mr. Harry Greenway
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many local authorities have so far set their council tax for 1993–94; at what average level; what is his current estimate of arrears of unpaid community tax; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Redwood
Press reports of 193 local authorities have been monitored by the Department of the Environment. So far, the average headline tax per dwelling of those authorities before transitional relief and benefit is £450. That compares with an average community charge per household in the current year of £486 before transitional relief and benefit. The Government estimate that at the end of December 1992 authorities were owed £1,400 million of community charge relating to the period from 1990. I hope that they will make due speed in collecting it because that will be good news for their taxpayers and for the services that they provide.

§ Mr. Greenway
Will my hon. Friend confirm that the level of uncollected community charge is roughly equal to the level of rates that were not collected and that this is particularly true in the borough of Ealing, where people fear the Labour party in local government? Will he tell that to the hon. Member for Coventry, North-East (Mr. Ainsworth)? The Labour party had better learn its history: it imposed a 65 per cent. rate increase in a single year upon the good people of Ealing and set up a disgraceful administration from which we are still trying to recover. Labour cannot and has never been able to run local government efficiently.

§ Mr. Redwood
It is certainly true that it is the Labour authorities which are bad at collecting money. Some of them have had to think about job losses and reduced services because they are not collecting the money that they are owed. That is the money which we need for local services.

§ Mr. Straw
Will the Minister confirm that the figures that he gave of average levels of council tax imply a level of band D across the country of about £550? Will he also confirm that that is £125 above the predictions,made by the previous Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for Henley (Mr. Heseltine), before the election, even allowing for inflation, since he predicted the figure of £400? Contrary to the constant assertions of the Secretary of State, were not these pre-election predictions? Will he confirm that the former Secretary of State said that the figures in the tables represented bills once the council tax had been put in place and that the only qualification given was that the council tax bills this year would be lower than in those predictions? Why is it that, thanks to the incompetence and parsimony of the Government, council tax bills will be at least £125 higher than the Government predicted before the election?

§ Mr. Redwood
The Government have never made forecasts of the level of council tax for the year of introduction. I have made no forecast and my right hon. and learned Friend has made none. We have always said that we would keep the House informed when councils set their levels of tax and that is what I have done today. The hon. Gentleman does not like it, because it is coming in much lower than he expected. That is good news for people round the country and good news for local government.

§ Mr. Sumberg
As the hon. Member for Blackburn (Mr. Straw) recently executed a neat U-turn when he told Tribune that the underlying principle of the council tax was about right, will my hon. Friend agree that any Labour local authority that cannot set a reasonable level of council tax cannot knock the system and has only itself to blame?

§ Mr. Redwood
My hon. Friend is right. From the figures that we have seen so far, it is noticeable that the highest taxes are set by Labour authorities and the lowest by Conservative, even though Labour councils get far more grant on average than do Conservative councils. Of the county councils, Hampshire is the lowest at £328 and Lancashire, which is Labour controlled, is the highest at £472. Of the shire districts, Derwentside is £212 and Wellingborough, which is Conservative, is minus £174, because it is so good at budgeting, selling assets and controlling costs that it is putting money back into local taxpayers' pockets.

§ Mr. Skinner
While we are on the subject of paying back taxes and poll tax in particular, why does not the Minister send a message to Her Majesty the Queen reminding her that she never paid any poll tax and asking for it retrospectively? He can add a PS and ask for the 40 years' back payment of income tax that she has never paid either.

§ Mr. Redwood
As the hon. Gentleman well knows, the House decided that Her Majesty would have no liability for that tax, but she has offered to pay the council tax. I am sure that that will be paid in due time in the way the hon. Gentleman expects.

§ Mr. Butcher
Does my hon. Friend agree that one possible reason for future variations in council tax will be the major variations in staffing and manning levels and the efficiency of local authorities? There is a grave suspicion that some local authorities are seriously overmanned, while operating identical services to others which are not. May we have clear management information on which people can make judgments on, for example, the number of employees per thousand of population, so that people may be better informed about the efficiency of their councils?

§ Mr. Redwood
Much of this information is available in local areas and it is a proper matter for local debate in council chambers. I am sure that Conservative councillors in opposition will make clear how inefficient the worst Labour councils are and how much money is being wasted. It will cost about £100 per household more next year to live under a Labour council than under a Conservative one. I am sure that the electorate will take note and do the obvious thing.