HC Deb 12 November 1987 vol 122 cc192-4W
Mr. Frank Field

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he expects to reply to the letter addressed to him on the poll tax from Mrs. F. A. Higgins of 3 Daffodil road, Birkenhead, which was passed to him on 3 August.

Mr. Howard

Mrs. F. A. Higgins wrote to me on 28 July about the community charge, and received a reply from my officials in the early part of September. She wrote a further letter to my right hon. Friend on 6 October, and a reply was sent on 11 November.

Mrs. Cllwyd

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what instructions he intends to issue to local authorities seeking to collect debts from community charge joint liabilities where one partner has not had access to the family income.

Mr. Howard

It will be for individual local authorities to decide on appropriate recovery procedures for community charge debts. Our proposal for joint and several liability will mean that they will not need to attempt to enforce recovery from partners who have no access to the family income.

Mrs. Clwyd

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether the liability on the community charge will be backdated and retained to the time a couple were living together, and remain as a joint debt in instances where the couple have separated following domestic violence.

Mr. Howard

Couples will be jointly and severally liable for unpaid community charges in respect of any period during which they were married and living in the same household, or living together as husband and wife.

Mr. Wilson

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he intends to create, as proposed in Scotland, a category of persons known as severely mentally handicapped for the purposes of poll tax implementation.

Mr. Howard

Yes. The severely mentally handicapped will be exempt from liability to pay the personal community charge in England and Wales, as they will in Scotland.

Mr. Simon Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to the answer to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr (Mr. Rooker) on 9 November,Official Report, column 14, how many households in each London borough will experience an increase of (a) 50 per cent. or more and (b) 80 per cent. or more in local tax bills under the poll tax proposals, if local authorities in London continue to spend at present levels until the community charge is fully in place.

Mr. Howard

As I explained in my reply to the hon. Member for Birmingham, Perry Barr on 26 October at column39., it is not possible to produce figures for individual local authority areas.

Mr. Hood

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if, pursuant to the reply of 4 November,Official Report, column 728, he will list the names of those organisations which have given written support to the introduction of the poll tax, indicating also where they are based.

Mr. Howard

No. I do not have the permission of those who submitted comments to publish their views. But as I indicated to the Hon. Member for Southend, East (Mr. Taylor) on 4 November 1987, at column728, a summary of responses was placed in the Library on 15 December 1986.

Mr. Rooker

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what are his latest proposals in respect of the poll tax for women seeking refuge from domestic violence.

Mr. Howard

Officials from my Department and the Welsh Office met representatives of Women's Aid Federation England and Welsh Women's Aid on 9 November. I am considering what measures may be appropriate in the light of the concerns expressed.

Mr. Cohen

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what arrangements he is proposing for the collection of the poll tax from homeless people.

Mr. Howard

It will be for the individual local authorities to devise the arrangements for collecting the community charge in their areas. Most of the premises that give temporary accommodation for homeless people are likely to be designated for the collective community charge.

Mr. Rooker

To asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the relationship between the contribution to local taxation of the 10 per cent. of households who are highest paid and the 10 per cent. who are the lowest paid(a) under the present system and (b) under the poll tax.

Mr. Howard

[holding answer 5 November 1987]: Based on data contained in the family expenditure survey, I estimate that under the existing system the 10 per cent. of households with the highest net incomes pay 51 times as much in local taxation after rebate as the 10 per cent. of households with the lowest net income. If the community charge were fully implemented the 10 per cent. with the highest net incomes would pay six times as much as those with the lowest net incomes.