§ Mr. Dobsonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the method of allocation to local authorities of the rate fund contribution of the electricity supply, water supply, gas supply, coal mining, petroleum production and refining and railway industries; and if he will give details of the sums received from each industry by each local authority and where appropriate details of what the sums received by each local authority would be if they were based solely on the rateable value of hereditaments occupied by each industry in the area of each local authority.
§ Mr. KingCertain public utilities in England and Wales have operational property that is not suited to rating by conventional valuation. For such property, formulae, in Acts of Parliament or in orders are used to determine a rate liability. Apportionment is made generally by reference to the share of the amount of property or the degree of activity in each rating area; more details will be found in the Acts and orders listed below. The petroleum production and refining industry is rated under the normal law, but formula rating is used for most of the property of the public utilities mentioned in the question. It is not possible in the time available to compile a table of the resulting rate liabilities for each of the 402 rating areas in England and Wales. In the nature of the case, figures cannot be shown for what liabilities would exist if these operational properties were rated conventionally.
The list is as follows:
Electricity
General Rate Act 1967 Section 34, Schedule 7
The Electricity Boards (Rateable Values) Order 1976 (SI 1976/489).
Water
General Rate Act 1967 Section 31, Schedule 4
The Rating (Water hereditaments) Order 1975 (SI 1975/540)
Gas
General Rate Act 1967 Section 33, Schedule 6
Local Government Act 1974 Section 19, Schedule 3
The Gas Hereditaments (Rateable Values) Order 1976 (SI 1976/490)
The Gas Hereditaments (Rateable Values) (Amendment) Order 1979 (SI 1979/1516)
The Natural Gas Terminals (Rateable Values) Order 1976 (SI 1976/391)
The Natural Gas Terminals (Rateable Values) (Amendment) Order 1979 (SI 1979/1373)
Coal
Local Government Act 1974, Schedule 3
The National Coal Board (Rateable Values) Order 1977 (SI 1977/2083)
Railways
The General Rate Act 1967 Section 32, Schedule 5
The Transport Boards (Distribution of Payments for Rating Authorities) Order 1977 (SI 1977/481)
The Transport Boards (Adjustment of Payments) Order 1977 (SI 1977/585)
The Transport Boards (Adjustment of Payments) Order 1980 (SI 1980/494)