HC Deb 20 March 1990 vol 169 cc598-600W
Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give the safety net figure for(a) Grimsby and (b) Hull on a per capita basis; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Chope

Charge payers in Grimsby will each receive £46 from the safety net. Charge payers in Kingston upon Hull will each receive £74. The difference in the receipts reflects the different effects on the domestic sector in each authority of the changes in local government finance from 1 April. The details of the calculation are set out in the Revenue Support Grant Transition Report (England) made on 21 December 1989 and approved by the House on 18 January.

Mr. Speller

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will introduce legislation to substitute a single community charge or a single business rate when the proprietor of a small business lives on the business premises as part of the duties involved in the business.

Mr. Chope

The community charge and the uniform business rate are distinct forms of charging; the former relates to individuals and the latter to the use of non-domestic property. There should be no difference in principle between a proprietor of a business who lives away from his workplace paying the community charge at one address and business rates at another, and that of a proprietor who lives and works at the same address. In the latter case rates will be charged only on the non-domestic use of the property, not on any living accommodation.

Mr. Maxwell-Hyslop

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his answer of 7 March, whether he will give the information requested by the hon. Member for Tiverton on 7 March for the financial year 1990–91 only, in respect of(a) England and (b) Devon.

Mr. David Hunt

[holding answer 14 March 1990]: When setting the level of total standard spending (TSS) and RSG for 1990–91, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State took into account our best estimates of the costs of the new burdens falling on local authorities as a whole in 1990–91, as well as all other relevant factors. Neither the total for TSS nor that for RSG separately identifies an amount for these costs.

Mr. Jack Thompson

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will estimate the cost of exempting all non-employed YTS trainees with STN endorsements from paying the community charge.

Mr. Chope

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister for Local Government and Inner Cities to the right hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, South (Mr. Ashley) on 19 March 1990 (Official Report, Volume 169. column 482).

Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his current estimate of the number of districts and the number of households in each that will qualify for rebate of poll tax under the Government's undertaking that couples will not be asked to pay more than £156 more than they were paying in rates.

Mr. Chope

I have no estimates of numbers qualifying for transitional relief in the areas of individual local authorities.

My right hon. Friend did not give the undertaking mentioned. With transitional relief two-adult households will pay no more than £156 extra if their community charge is set at or below the assumed charge for their area, set out in the Community Charge Transitional Relief Report (England). Local authority spending decisions may lead households to have larger increases in bills.