§ Mr. Ron Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many cases are outstanding in the Carlisle district, where application for new rating assessment has been made; and if he will speed matters up, because in some cases from information from the hon. Member for Carlisle, it is now taking several months to complete.
§ Mr. Guy BarnettI assume that my hon. Friend has in mind appeals against rating assessments. The Cumbria local valuation panel has 6,600 such appeals awaiting settlement, 400 of which relate to properties in the Carlisle District. That number of appeals is bound to take time to clear, but if the panel considers that the appointment of more staff would help I would approve it.