§ Mr. BlunkettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if, further to his answer to the hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside,Official Report, 13 June, columns 22–24 he will recalculate those taxes taking into account the new benefit levels announced by the Secretary of State for Social Security on 27 October.
§ Mr. GummerI refer the hon. Member to my reply to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr (Mr. Rooker) on 2 November, column685. The revised estimates will take into account the new benefit levels announced by the Secretary of State for Social Security on 27 October. I shall write to the hon. Member when the information requested is available.
§ Dr. CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to make the membership of valuation and community charge tribunals representative of the wider community.
§ Mr. RidleyMembers of valuation and community charge tribunals will be appointed by local authorities, as the members of local valuation panels are now. My officials have recently written to appointing authorities about appointments to the tribunals, stressing the need for tribunal membership to be drawn from people with a wide range of backgrounds.
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§ Dr. CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, what plans he has to provide information on poll tax in ethnic minority languages; and when translations of information, forms, practice notes, and so on, will be made available.
§ Mr. RidleyA practice note about canvassing arrangements which contains a model registration form and explanatory notes has been prepared jointly by my Department and local authority associations and will be issued this week.
To assist those authorities with substantial ethnic minority populations, we shall be making available the form and notes in the major ethnic minority languages, in time for the canvasses next year.
§ Dr. CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish in theOfficial Report the list of poll tax matters for which the valuation and community charge tribunals will determine appeals.
§ Mr. RidleyThe grounds for appeal to a valuation and community charge tribunal in relation to the community charge are set out in section 23(2) of the Local Government Finance Act 1988.
§ Dr. CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will publish in theOfficial Report the number of members of (a) each local valuation panel, (b) each proposed valuation and community charge tribunal, and (c) the authority areas served by each local valuation panel and valuation and community charge tribunal.
§ Mr. RidleyThe information is as follows. Each valuation and community charge tribunal will serve the same area as its predecessor local valuation panel. Except where shown, the panel covers all the district councils within a county. The figures for LVP membership are the present complement; some panels are currently operating below complement.
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Panel/Tribunal Present LVP complement Proposed VCCT complement Avon 28 36 Bedfordshire 16 20 Berkshire 40 40 Birmingham 40 50 Buckinghamshire 31 36 Cambridgeshire 44 47 Cheshire 50 70 Cleveland 54 55 Cornwall 32 32 Coventry/Solihull 30 40 Cumbria 36 36 Derbyshire 54 60 Devon 40 40 Dorset 23 23 Essex North (Braintree, Chelmsford, Colchester, Maiden, Tendring and Uttlesford) 30 30 Essex South (Basildon, Brentwood, Castle Point, Epping Forest, Harlow, Rochford, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock) 22 30 Gloucestershire 22 24 Hampshire North (Basinstoke and Deane, East Hampshire, Hart, Rushmoor, Test Valley and Winchester) 21 23 Hampshire South (Eastleigh, Fareham, Gosport, Havant, New Forest, Portsmouth and Southampton) 36 36
Panel/Tribunal Present LVP complement Proposed VCCT complement Hereford and Worcester 40 40 Hertfordshire 40 40 Humberside 40 47 Isle of Wight 12 12 Isles of Scilly 10 10 Kent 80 100 Lancashire 70 100 Leicestershire 50 50 Lincolnshire 58 58 London Central (Camden, Islington, Westminster, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the City of London) 50 110 London North East (Barking and Dagenham, Hackney, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest) 56 63 London North West (Barnet, Brent, Ealing, Enfield, Haringey, Harrow and Hillingdon) 56 91 London South East (Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Lewisham and Southwark) 48 72 London South West (Hammersmith and Fulham, Hounslow, Kingston-upon-Thames, Lambeth, Merton, Richmond-upon-Thames, Sutton and Wandsworth) 48 72 Manchester North (Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Tameside, Rochdale and Wigan) 84 108 Manchester South (Manchester, Salford, Stockport and Trafford) 56 84 Merseyside (Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St. Helens and Wirral) 54 100 Norfolk 70 70 Northamptonshire 35 36 Northumberland 30 35 Nottinghamshire 42 54 Oxfordshire 35 36 Shropshire 43 44 Somerset 20 20 Staffordshire 55 57 Suffolk 30 30 Surrey 46 46 East Sussex 40 40 West Sussex 35 37 Tyne and Wear 64 80 Warwickshire 28 40 West Midlands (West) (Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton) 34 40 Wiltshire 26 26 North Yorkshire 46 52 South Yorkshire 42 64 West Yorkshire 70 90
§ Mr. BlunkettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if, based on the most recent figures, he will show the percentage of people in England and Wales expected to pay, on 1988–89 figures, a personal community charge of up to(a) £200, (b) £246, (c) £250, (d) £258, (e) £300, (f) £350, (g) £400, (h) £450, (i) £500, (j) £506, (k) £550 and (l) £600.
§ Mr. Gummer[holding answer 3 November 1988]: On 23 June 1988 the Government published community charge figures to illustrate the impact of the new local government finance system had it been in force in 1988–89. They use the current levels of local authority spending, and existing local authority responsibilities. They are not therefore a prediction of what community charges will be in due course. Based on those published figures, however, the 87W percentage of personal community charge payers in England who would pay the amounts specified are as follows:
Community charge Charge payers Per cent. Up to £200 25 £201 to £246 34 £247 to £250 2 £251 to £258 4 £259 to £300 28 £301 to £350 1 £351 to £400 1 £401 to £450 0 £451 to £500 1 £501 to £506 0 £507 to £550 1 £551 to £600 1 1 Less than ½ per cent.
Table A Average rates payable per household £ 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 South East 340 371 393 420 451 486 527 South West 237 255 272 291 351 377 418 East Anglia 227 244 265 281 349 370 404 West Midlands 286 290 299 345 398 429 467 East Midlands 227 243 271 292 362 395 444 North West 269 291 314 347 401 432 466 Yorkshire and Humberside 221 234 251 273 335 353 393 Northern 241 262 284 322 375 382 412
Table B Annual percentage increase in average rates payable per household Per cent. 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 South East 13 9 6 7 7 8 8 South West 17 8 7 7 21 7 11 East Anglia 10 7 9 6 24 6 9 West Midlands 14 1 3 15 15 8 9 East Midlands 23 7 12 8 24 9 12 North West 16 8 8 11 16 8 8 Yorkshire and Humberside 21 6 7 9 23 5 11 Northern 13 9 8 13 16 2 8
Table C Annual percentage increase in retail price index1 Year Percentage 1982–83 9.4 1983–84 4.0 1984–85 5.2 1985–86 6.9 1986–87 3.0 1987–88 4.2 1988–89 3.9 1 As at April.
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Table D Projected community charge per adult1 £ South East 259 South West 212 East Anglia 196
§ Sir Geoffrey FinsbergTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether, under the provisions of the Housing Bill, a registered charitable housing association will be entitled to purchase tenanted council properties.
§ Mr. TrippierWhether a charitable housing association can acquire tenanted council properties must depend on the terms of its charitable objects and on all the circumstances of the individual case.