Council Tax (Hansard, 18 March 1996)

§ 6. Mr. Rowlands
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales what is his latest estimate of the average increase in council tax likely to be raised by each of the county boroughs of (a) Mid Glamorgan and (b) Wales. [19378]

§ Mr. Gwilym Jones
The band D increase for Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfil and Rhondda, Cynon, Taff is between £97 and £99. The average Welsh band D increase is £74.

§ Mr. Rowlands
Is the hon. Gentleman, and particularly the Secretary of State, aware that, had the increases not been made, either school budgets would have been slashed, or teachers made redundant? Would the Secretary of State now admit modestly, to us at least, that he made a serious miscalculation when he introduced the original local government finance arrangements, given their impact on council taxes? Will he therefore review and revise those arrangements in the coming year?

§ Mr. Jones
No. Every council in south Wales has the opportunity to spend more than the agreed basis in the coming financial year as though they had existed during the current financial year. It is now up to local authorities to make the best use of the substantial resources available to them. Their electors would be better encouraged if those authorities were not spending their time considering how they could put up councillors' salaries and improve redundancy packages.

§ Sir Wyn Roberts
Will my hon. Friend confirm that councillors across Wales have markedly increased their allowances, some by as much as 400 per cent? Does he also agree that those increases are minimal compared to those that would occur if the capping regime were to be removed? Is it not also true that those increases have been dampened down by the actions of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State?

§ Mr. Jones
My right hon. Friend is absolutely right. Capping has fulfilled the essential purpose of protecting local council tax payers from the worst excesses of Labour councils. At the moment, councillors are contemplating putting up their salaries to £24,000 a year. I am sure that it is as a consequence of that, and of their other actions, that they are now being forced to set up redundancy working parties to pay them after they have been thrown out of office.

§ Mr. Win Griffiths
Will the Minister confirm that, in the next financial year, the Welsh Office revenue support grant will represent a smaller proportion of council spending than in previous years? Will he confirm that the Secretary of State recognised that when he increased the 8 capping limit from 0.5 to 3.5 per cent. of the notional budget? In the next financial year, half the population of Wales will pay a council tax increase of 25 per cent. or more, and that will be well within the guidelines issued by the Secretary of State.

§ Mr. Jones
The hon. Gentleman is correct. We have responded to local authorities' call to have more opportunities to raise their finances locally. That is local accountability, and local electors will want to hold their authorities accountable for their actions. The hon. Gentleman should know that his new authority has more than 4 per cent. extra to spend in the coming financial year than it would have had if it had existed in the present financial year. The hon. Gentleman should do what his electors expect of him and scrutinise whether that authority will apply that extra money to important requirements such as education and care in the community.