§ 3.36 p.m.
§ Lord Fraser of Carmyllie rose to move, That the draft orders laid before the House on 6th May and 17th and 23rd June be approved [1st, 3rd and 4th Reports from the Joint Committee].
§ The noble and learned Lord said: My Lords, the 15 draft orders standing on the Order Paper in my name relate to matters of valuation for rating in Scotland, with 14 dealing with the rateable values of the so-called formula valued industries and one providing for derating of certain oil and petrochemical properties.
§ The so-called formula valued industries are mainly public utilities which are not valued for rating by the regional assessors in the usual way but for which the rateable values are prescribed. The draft orders before your Lordships today simply revise the rateable values prescribed for last year to take account both of the new level of industrial derating (now at 25 per cent.) and also of material changes affecting the value of each industry's property holdings.
§ The remaining order prescribes a level of derating for certain oil-related and petrochemical plants in Scotland which are significantly disadvantaged in the rates bills they have to pay when compared with those which would be demanded of them had they been 885 located south of the Border. Those plants that are affected are directly related to the advent of North Sea oil; older plants do not suffer to the same degree because of their age and the ability to take account of such factors as obsolescence and redundant plant. The level of derating proposed is 45 per cent.
§ The orders in the main update, for 1992–93, existing provisions which applied in respect of the last financial year. I commend the orders to your Lordships. I beg to move the Motions standing in my name on the Order Paper en bloc.
§ Moved, That the draft orders laid before the House on 6th May and 17th and 23rd June be approved [1st, 3rd and 4th Reports from the Joint Committee].—(Lord Fraser of Carmyllie.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.