§ Mr. ColemanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) what mechanisms his Department is using to monitor the changes to council tax regulations; and when he will publish the results of his review of the changes; [137496]
(2) when he expects to publish the findings of his Department's review of changes to council tax regulations. [137512]
§ Ms Beverley HughesWe carried out a review of the council tax in preparation for our 1998 White Paper "Modern Local Government: In Touch with the People". In this we said that the council tax is working well as a local tax and that we have no plans to make major changes to the council tax during the course of this Parliament.
We also said that we would keep the operation of the council tax under review and have done this through liaison with key players such as local authorities, the Local Government Association and other interested parties. As a result we have made a number of minor changes to the council tax since the White Paper. The main ones extended relief under the reduction for disabilities scheme to occupiers of band A dwellings; 473W exempted households comprising students and people with a severe mental impairment; restricted the exemption for empty dwellings in need of major repair works to 12 months; and introduced owner liability in respect of certain dwellings occupied by asylum seekers.
We also invited views on certain aspects of the council tax in the Green Paper "Modernising Local Government Finance", which we published in September. The deadline for responses is 8 December.