§ Mr. Soamesasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will introduce partial business de-rating to put business ratepayers on a par with domestic rate payers.
§ Mr. WaldegraveNo. The Government believe that the right way to help businesses faced with high rates is to constrain local authority expenditure and, in the case of the most excessive high spenders, to limit their rates. This is what the Rates Bill aims to achieve.
1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 (a) £ million
(b) Percentage
(a) £ million
(b) Percentage
(a) £ million
(b) Percentage
Bournemouth 3.6 41.3 4.2 41.3 4.6 46.9 North Dorset 0.5 49.9 0.7 54.3 0.8 56.9 Eastbourne 1.8 31.0 2.1 38.1 2.4 41.1 Brighton 5.6 48.5 5.0 41.4 6.0 42.4 Torbay 2.7 52.7 2.8 42.7 3.1 44.3
§ Mr. Fatchettasked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many representations he has received from English local authorities relating to the 1984–85 rate support grant settlement; and if he will give a synopsis of the views expressed.
§ Mr. WaldegraveSince provisional targets for 1984–85 were announced on 1 August last, my right hon. Friend has received 56 representations from local authorities seeking changes to their expenditure guidance, and 88 representations from authorities asking that certain amounts or descriptions of expenditure should be disregarded under section 8(4) of the Local Government Finance Act 1982. A number of representations have been received covering other rate support grant matters, in particular the grant percentage, grant-related expenditure assessments and our proposals for grant abatement. DOE Ministers have received 16 deputations.