HC Deb 03 February 1988 vol 126 cc648-9W
Mr. Andrew Bowden

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will estimate the number of pensioner couples who will(a) gain and (b) lose as a consequence of the replacement of domestic rates by a community charge.

Mr. Howard

On the basis of data contained in the family expenditure survey, I estimate that 0.8 million pensioner couple households would gain from the introduction of the community charge without safety nets and 1 million would lose. On the other hand 80 per cent. of single pensioner households 2 million would gain. On the basis of the 1988–89 rebate arrangements all pensioner couples reliant entirely on the state retirement pension will qualify for an 80 per cent. community charge rebate.

Mr. Cohen

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what additional regulations or advice his Department will produce to ensure that the collection of personal data for use in the community register complies with the terms of the first data protection principle; and whether he will make a statement;

(2) what additional regulations or advice his Department will produce to ensure that the disclosure of personal data from the community charge register complies with the terms of the third data protection principle; and whether he will make a statement.

Mr. Howard

I am continuing to discuss the implications of the Data Protection Act for the operation of the community charge with the Data Protection Registrar. My right hon. Friend will consider the need for guidance to local authorities and community charge registration officers in due course.

Mr. Cousins

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will reproduce the information in the tables in annex F to Cmnd. 9714, "Paying for Local Government"(a) for England only and (b) on the decile basis used in his reply of 16 December 1987 to the hon. Member for Warrington, North (Mr. Hoyle) Official Report, column 522, in the latter case together with information from the equivalent tables in his Department's note on the relationship between local taxes and income and the distributional impact of the community charge.

Mr. Howard

No. I have already given my latest estimates based on 1986–87 information. These replace the estimates based on 1984–85 data as published in Cmnd. 9714 and reflect decisions taken since that time.

Mr. Cousins

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the estimated(a) over 18 years and (b) total population in the households and tax units referred to in figures six to 10 of his Department's note on the relationship between local taxes and income and the distributional impact of the community charge.

Mr. Howard

Figures 6 to 10 of the note on 13 January are based on a sample of 24,120 households in England and scaled to an adult population for England of 35.2 million. This is consistent with a total population of 47.2 million.