§ Mr. Craigenasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the proposed allocation of the rate rebates provided under the Rating (Revaluation Rebates) (Scotland) Bill.
§ Mr. AncramI am not clear whether the hon. Member has in mind the likely demand for revaluation rate rebates in each of the rating authority areas. The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities has been trying to collect this information, much of which is to hand; the rest should be available shortly and I shall write to the hon. Member when it is.
§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make arrangements to inform all those with revaluations above 300 per cent. of their previous valuations of the help now to be made available.
§ Mr. AncramMy right hon. Friend will ensure that suitable publicity is given to the provisions of the Rating (Revaluation Rebates) (Scotland) Bill 1985.
§ Mr. Gordon Brownasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he studied the revaluations in (a) Fife, (b) Central, (c) Grampian, (d) Borders, (e) Highland and (f) Lothian regions before announcing his package of special assistance to ratepayers.
§ Mr. AncramMy right hon. Friend had regard at different stages in the last year to the information provided at successive stages by the assessors as to the overall effects of revaluation. Before making his announcement on 14 May he took account of other relevant information available to him but he did not study the results of revaluation in the sense of inspecting comprehensively the valuation rolls for any areas.