§ Mr. Roy Hughesasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will advise a standard form in the advertising of rate rebate schemes operated by local authorities to help ensure that members of the public are not misled by the content of such advertisements.
§ Mr. Graham PageNo. My Department makes leaflets and posters available to local authorities to assist them, but the responsibility for accurate and adequate advertising of the rate rebate schemes rests with them.
Mr. Roy Hugesasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will seek powers to give greater discretion to local authorities in the interpretation of the regulations governing rate rebate schemes when they consider that a rigid interpretation of the rules is likely to cause hardships;
(2) in the current review of rate rebate schemes, if consideration will be given to the position of couples who retire or have extended periods of sickness but are disqualified from benefit because the income period taken into consideration is the six months ending before the rebate period begins;
(3) when the findings will be announced of the current review of rebate schemes operated by local authorities.
§ Mr. Graham PageParagraphs 3.13 to 3.22 of the Green Paper "The Future Shape of Local Government Finance" (Cmnd. 4741) outlined a possible new and extended rate rebate scheme, and suggested there would be advantages in aligning as far as practicable the details of any new scheme with the scheme of rent rebates and allowances now in the Housing Finance Act 1972. A scheme so aligned would be more responsive to changes in income than the present one; a local authority would also have discretion to grant a rebate greater than that 145W due under the statutory scheme if it considered the applicant's circumstances to be exceptional. The Government's proposals will be announced in due course.