§ Lord Mulleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, as a matter of urgency, they will take all possible steps to prevent demands for community charge payments from reaching members of Her Majesty's Forces in the Gulf, and whether they will make provisions to reimburse or offset all community charges for such Service personnel for the period they spend in the Gulf on active service.
§ Baroness BlatchI refer to the statement made by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for the Environment in another place on Tuesday 19th February that it is the Government's intention that no service personnel or associated civilians posted to the Gulf should have to pay the community charge for the duration of their posting. When the judgment in the40WA Anderton case is received, we shall be considering ways of ensuring that this objective can be achieved and I shall present details to the House as soon as I can. Meanwhile we have already advised local authorities not to seek to enforce payment of the charge while servicemen are in the Gulf, but to calculate any liability on their return.