HC Deb 23 January 1989 vol 145 cc397-8W
Mr. Cohen

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) whether he will introduce regulations that oblige charging authorities to inform community charge payers that the extract of the community charge register containing their names and addresses can be inspected and copied by debt collectors, police, Government Departments and mail order companies;

(2) whether any of his recent publications informing community charge payers about the new financial arrangements for Scotland tells them that the extract of the community charge register containing their names and addresses can be inspected and copied by debt-collectors, police, Government Departments and mail order companies.

Mr. Lang

I refer the hon. Member to my reply of 10 January to his earlier question. I do not consider that any further formal notification or other guidance to individuals of the present position as regards inspection of the register is required.

Mr. Cohen

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what arrangements his Department has made to allow community charge payers the option of whether they can remove their names from the extract of the community charge register available for public inspection.

Mr. Lang

Any registered person in respect of whom there is reasonable cause to believe that he or she is, or may be, at risk of physical violence or threats of physical violence can apply to the appropriate community charges registration officer to have his name excluded from the parts of the register open to public inspection.

Mr. Cohen

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will introduce regulations that bring the same arrangements for the inspection of the extract of the community charge register as outlined by his right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for the Environment,Official Report, column 493, 14 November 1988 and Official Report, column 426, 28 November 1988.

Mr. Lang

No.

Mr. Cohen

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what representations he has received relating to the collection of the date of birth of every community charge payer; and whether any of those representations object to indiscriminate collection of dates of birth.

Mr. Lang

The requirement was included in response to representations made by local authority practitioners during the passage of the Abolition of Domestic Rates Etc. (Scotland) Act 1987. A number of individuals and organisations have made representations against it.

Mrs. Ray Michie

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make it his policy to publish a full list of the community charge figures set by each council as soon as the figures are available, setting out the district, regional or island and water community charge for each area and in equivalent terms the forecast of these figures he published on 4 November 1988 and the figures which would have resulted without safety net adjustments to the revenue support grant.

Mr. Lang

I intend to publish in due course a full list of personal community charges and to set alongside these details of each authority's planned expenditure increase over the present year. This will allow community charge payers to see in appropriate cases the extent to which their charges are inflated by overspending.

Dr. Cunningham

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what land he has designated under paragraph 11 of schedule 1A to the Abolition of Domestic Rates (Scotland) Act 1987; and how many persons he estimates will be exempt from community charge as a result of any such designation.

Mr. Lang

Following discussions with the Ministry of Defence it is proposed to designate Glencorse and Milton Bridge camps near Penicuik as places where the pattern of residence of army personnel is so transient as to make individual registration for the personal community charge impracticable. A contribution equivalent to the personal community charge for the area will be required from service personnel who are solely or mainly resident in the camps in respect of each day of their residence. The Ministry of Defence will then pay the levying authority an amount equal to the total of the personal community charges. It is estimated that at any one time there will be about 100 service men resident in the camps.

Mr. Cohen

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will introduce regulations to specify that the date of birth of community charge payers need be collected only when there are two or more people living at the same address with the same name and initials.

Mr. Lang

[holding answer 22 December 1988]: Section 13(1)(d) of the Abolition of Domestic Rates Etc. (Scotland) Act 1987, as amended by the Local Government Finance Act 1988, requires that the community charges register must specify the date of birth of each person registered in it. There is no power to remove this requirement by regulations.