FIRST SCHEDULE.

HL Deb 30 July 1928 vol 71 cc1449-53

Provisions for bringing into conformity with this Act Valuation Lists which will be in force on the 1st day of October, 1929.

4. The revenue officer on receiving the copy of a preliminary draft special list or instalment thereof so sent to him shall consider the contents thereof; and if, as respects any hereditament the revenue officer considers that the net annual value or gross value entered in respect thereof is excessive, or differs from any of the other conclusions arrived at by the rating authority, the revenue officer and the rating authority shall consult with each other as to whether the hereditament is to be entered in the list, and, if so, as to the particulars with respect thereto and the net annual value or gross value to be so entered.

7. All the provisions of the principal Act as to—

1. (i) the preparation, deposit, inspection and revision of draft valuation lists;
2. (ii) the making and hearing of objections to draft valuation lists and appeals against decisions on such objections;
3. (iii) the final approval of valuation lists and the inspection thereof;

shall apply as respects draft special lists and special lists, subject to the foregoing provisions of this schedule and to the following modifications and exceptions:— (b) In so far as the particulars entered in the draft special list with regard to any hereditament are agreed between the rating authority and the revenue officer, or where a claim to have a hereditament inserted in the list has been rejected in pursuance of such an agreement, the assessment committee shall not have power to alter those particulars, or to insert the hereditament, otherwise than in determining an objection:

LORD FORESTER moved to insert the following proviso in Clause 4 after "so entered":— Provided that the Revenue officer and the rating authority shall exercise their powers and duties under this paragraph before the date on which the county or other rate for the year 1929–30 is appointed to be estimated.

The noble Lord said: I move this Amendment in order to help the county councils, being a member of the county council in my County. If the rating authorities and the Revenue officer do not do their work before such time as the county rate has to be estimated by the county council it will create great difficulties for the county councils. If the Revenue officer, after a county has estimated its rate and provided for the money it requires, comes, as the watchdog of the Treasury, which I understand he will be, and says: "Oh no, you put your rates up far too high; you must put them down," then the finance committee of the council will be in a hole. I do not think this Amendment affects any principle of the Bill, and I am sure that the Government, having put all this extra work on the shoulders of the county councils—because there is a good deal of extra work—will do their best to try to make things as easy as possible for the county councils.

Amendment moved— Page 16, line 26, at end insert the said proviso.—(Lord Forester.)

VISCOUNT PEEL

The rating authorities and the Revenue officer will no doubt be urged to do their work as quickly as possible; but I trust that my noble friend will not try to pin them down absolutely to February 1. Some of them might suffer from excess of work and not be finished. I do not quite know what would happen if they had not finished their work in time, as there is no penalty imposed by my noble friend. In practice I do not think that any very great difficulty will arise because certainly many local authorties make their rates for the half-year and not for the whole year. In other cases, I am told, the clerks will be able to arrive at an approximate figure by February 1 next. Therefore, I do not think that my noble friend will gain anything by his Amendment. I do not see what particular screw it will put on, nor do I see the point of saying that the work must be done by that date. I can assure my noble friend that everything will be done to secure that the work is finished by that date. I hope he will be satisfied with that assurance and will not try to tie these people down more tightly.

LORD FORESTER

I have not put down any date. I have only said "before the date on which the county or other rate" is estimated for the year.

VISCOUNT PEEL

I am told that is about the date. Will my noble friend be satisfied with my assurance? I appreciate the difficulties, and I am asking him not to tie these people to a particular date but to accept the assurance I have given that everything will be done to accelerate the work.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.

LORD FORESTER moved, in Clause 7, to leave out paragraph (b). The noble Lord said: I cannot see that any object can be gained by this paragraph, which practically renders the assessment committee useless. They cannot act on their own opinion. Although it is not in the Bill, I understand that this Revenue officer is to be appointed for one year only and that he will retire after that year. After he has retired there is no doubt that the assessment committee ought to be the final arbiter as to what the date is to be, and if you knock them out altogether, as this paragraph does, I think you will be treating them very unfairly indeed. I would humbly suggest, in view of the fact that the Revenue officer is to retire after the first year, that the Government should allow the assessment committee to have at least a word to say about the job which they are supposed to do—assessment. I beg to move.

Amendment moved— Page 17, line 32, leave out paragraph (b).—(Lord Forester.)

VISCOUNT PEEL

I hope my noble friend understands that the arrangement under this paragraph is merely temporary and is only for the purpose of accelerating the work in this particular case. I do not think he is quite right when he says that the work is taken out of the hands of the assessment committees. In all the cases where judgment has to be exercised and in which there is a difference of opinion between the Revenue officer and the rating authority or the occupier himself, the assessment committee will have to bring their judgment to bear. I submit that they will have plenty to do in connection with that work and that it will properly occupy them. All that paragraph (b) says is that when there is agreement between the Revenue officer and the rating authority the particulars shall stand. That is done purely in this temporary case, in order to relieve the assessment committee of work and to bring the business rapidly to an end. There is no disrespect, I think, to the assessment authority at all. It is merely a means of preventing their having to go all over the work again in cases where agreement has been reached.

LORD STRACHIE

It is perfectly true, as the noble Viscount has said, that this is only a temporary measure; but I would point out that when these assessments are made they are likely to continue in the future. I think the noble Viscount does not realise, perhaps, that the assessment committees to-day are much more important bodies than they used to be. In the old days they merely occupied the position which is now held by the rating authority, which is a comparatively small one. A rating authority now may be concerned with a third, a fourth, a fifth, and in some cases even an eighth of an assessment area. It seems rather extraordinary that this small body should be allowed to override the assessment committee. Then, the fact that the Revenue officer is appointed for one year only seems rather to cut the ground from under the feet of the noble Viscount. If this officer's work is so important it seems to me that it ought to be permanent. I hope the noble Lord will persist in his Amendment.

VISCOUNT PEEL

I suggested that the only reason for the provision was to save time. These assessments must be carried out quickly, and where there is agreement between all the parties it is hardly necessary to lay upon the assessment committee the onerous duty of going through those assessments all over again. They would be fully occupied in dealing with cases where there was disagreement between the Revenue officer and the assessment authority or the occupier, as the case might be.

LORD FORESTER

Might I point out that if this Bill becomes an Act it will go on for ever, whereas your Revenue officer only functions for one year? The Bill also says that the assessment committee has no power to deal with these cases in the future when the Revenue officer is not there. I think my noble friend might meet me in this matter, seeing that my Amendment alters no principle of the Bill. I was present at a

Resolved in the affirmative and Amendment disagreed to accordingly.

First Schedule agreed to.

Remaining Schedule agreed to.