§ Sir J. NALLasked the Minister of Health whether he is aware of the position arising under the Rating and Valuation Act, 1925, whereby occupiers having been required to give particulars of their property receive no written notice of their new assessment; that the provisions of the Act regarding notices of appeal against assessments in the draft lists and the period within which appeals may be lodged are being differently interpreted by various authorities; that owing to the absence of written notices of assessment many occupiers will be unaware of increased assessments until they receive demand notes for rates, by which time it will be too late to appeal against the assessment; and whether, in order to clarify the procedure and preserve the right of appeal to occupiers, he will take steps to provide for written notice of assessment being served upon every occupier affected by a revised assessment?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINUnder the Rating and Valuation Act, 1925, as amended by the Rating and Valuation Act, 1928, it is not necessary to notify an individual occupier of an increase of his assessment. The position in this respect is the same as it was under the genera] law formerly in force in England and Wales (outside London). If an occupier who is aggrieved by any incorrectness or unfairness in the draft valuation list, as deposited, omits to lodge an objection thereto within the prescribed time, it is still open to him to make a proposal for the amendment of the approved list after it has come into force. Any such proposal must be considered and determined by the Assessment Committee in the same way as if it were an objection to the draft list and the decision on the proposal will operate from the beginning of the rating period in which 959W the proposal was made. In the circumstances, I do not consider that there is any necessity for an alteration of the existing statutory provisions.