§ Sir Eldon GriffithsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what indications he has to date of local authorities increasing or decreasing the number of staff they employ to collect community charge as compared with the number they employed to collect rates;
(2) how he intends to monitor the progress of implementation by local authorities of their arrangements for the collection of community charge; and if the timetable and checklists to be sent to all authorities following receipt of part II of the Price Waterhouse report on this matter are the basis for this monitoring.
§ Mr. GummerWe are monitoring progress through visits and other contacts with charging authorities, and have asked for a short summary of progress so far from each community charges registration officer. This will be followed up with a more detailed questionnaire in the spring. The timetable and checklist in the Price460W Waterhouse report will be of assistance in the monitoring process. It is hoped that the summaries of progress which have been requested will give a preliminary indication of charging authorities' proposals for the use of staff in comparison with the numbers of staff now working on rating.
Mr. Robert G. HughesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what a typical ward sister would pay(a) in rates, (b) in community charge and (c) in a system of capital value rates plus local income tax paid in the proportions of 80–20, respectively, if she lived in a typical one bedroom flat in Streatham.
§ Mr. GummerA ward sister earning £15,000, living in a flat in Streatham worth £60,000 with a rateable value of £250, would pay a rates bill of £648, a community charge of£490 (disregarding the transitional safety net), and £1,325 under a system of capital value rates plus local income tax.
§ Dr. John CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what response he has had to his Department's letter of December 1988 to chief finance officers of metropolitan and non-metropolitan districts and London boroughs asking for a progress report on the implementation of the community charge; and whether he will(a) publish the results of his survey and (b) place copies of the individual responses in the Library.
§ Mr. RidleyWe have so far received responses from around half of the 366 charging authorities. When a more complete set of responses has been analysed, I shall place a summary in the Library. Authorities were not informed that the responses themselves would be made public and it will be necessary to ask them, at the next suitable opportunity, whether they are content for them to be placed in the Library.
§ Dr. CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he took into account from Scotland's poll tax registration process undertaken during April-May 1988 when deciding to defer the commencement date of the community charges regulations to 22 May 1989.
§ Mr. Ridley[holding answer 20 January 1989]: The equivalent Scottish regulations came into force on 1 April 1988, and Scottish registers had to be compiled by 1 October, a period of exactly six months. Registers in England and Wales have to be compiled by 1 December 1989. Bringing the regulations into force on 22 May will therefore allow a slightly longer period for registration than in Scotland. I have no doubt that the registration process can be carried out as successfully in England and Wales as it has been in Scotland.