HC Deb 19 March 2001 vol 365 c23W
Mr. Waterson

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment. Transport and the Regions (1) if he will make a statement on Government policy towards the introduction of new council tax bands; [1539011

(2) if he will make a statement on Government policy on the introduction of regional variations in the valuations used to determine council tax banding. [153816]

Ms Beverley Hughes

We believe that the council tax is working well as a local tax. In our Green Paper on modernising local government finance, which we published in September 2000, we explained that the banding system makes tax bills predictable and stable. A number of respondents to the Green Paper proposed that changes should be made to the structure of the council tax bands. We are considering what they had to say in the context of preparing a White Paper on local government finance which we intend to publish later this year.

Mr. Waterson

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what the average Band D council tax was in(a) England.(b) Wales and (c) Scotland in (i) 1997—98 and (ii) 2000—01. [153916]

Ms Beverley Hughes

The average band D council tax for England was £688 in 1997–98 and –847 in 2000–01. Council tax levels for Wales and Scotland are a matter for the National Assembly for Wales and the Scottish Executive respectively.

Mr. Waterson

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on his Department's capping powers in relation to local government expenditure and budgets. [153769]

Ms Beverley Hughes

We have powers to protect local people from excessive council tax increases. These powers are more discriminating than the previous system of crude and universal capping and enable us to look at councils' budget increases over several years. They are also more flexible: in addition to in-year capping the Secretary of State may set a national budget requirement to be used for future comparisons or he may cap the following year's budget.

When we have information on all local authority budgets and council taxes for 2001–02, we shall need to consider carefully whether any of them are excessive, and what action we might take as a result.