HC Deb 21 February 1990 vol 167 cc745-9W
15. Mr. McAllion

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many representations he has received concerning the introduction of the poll tax in England and Wales in the current year.

Mr. Chope

I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Coventry, South-East (Mr. Nellist) earlier today.

19. Mr. Robert Hicks

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the number of representations that he has received from Devon and Cornwall concerning the application of the community charge; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Chope

On 6 November my right hon. Friend announced to Parliament his proposals for the amount of revenue support grant to be paid to receiving authorities and specified bodies. As well as a letter from my hon. Friend the Member for Cornwall, South-East (Mr. Hicks) I received representations from Cornwall and Devon county councils and from four district councils in those counties. In addition I met a deputation from Torbay on 5 December.

22. Mr. Amess

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information he has on the level of the community charge to be set in Basildon.

Mr. Chope

None.

Mr. Clay

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will update to 1990–91 the answer given to the hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside (Mr. Blunkett),Official Report, 2 February 1989, columns 359–60, showing the distributional effect of the community y charge in comparison with domestic rates.

Mr. Chope

The information requested is not at present available.

Mr. Clay

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will update to 1990–91 the answer given to the hon. Member for Leeds, West (Mr. Battle),Official Report, 2 February 1989, columns 359–60, showing the numbers of gainers and losers by family type and income band from the introduction of the community charge.

Mr. Chope

The information requested is not at present available.

Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how, with reference to paragraph 3.36 of his revenue support grant distribution report (England), the figure of(a) £18.55, (b) £4.77 and (c) £5.21 are arrived at; how poll tax payers and council officials can check its validity; and what effect the choice of this figure has on the standard spending assessment arrived at for Grimsby.

Mr. Chope

The figures referred to in the revenue support grant distribution report (England) were determined by my right hon. Friend after full consultation with local authority representatives. Together they account for £27 per adult of Great Grimsby's SSA.

Mr. Austin Mitchell

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what changes were made to the indicator data for calculating revenue support grant for local authorities between 16 November 1989 and 12 January 1990; why they were made; and what was the effect of the changes on the standard spending assessment for local authorities.

Mr. Chope

The two main changes to the indicator data were that credit approvals reflected more up-to-date information on each authority's actual credit approvals for 1990–91; and that the adult population for the area was based on information from authorities' community charge registers. In addition, a number of minor changes were made as a result of further checking and correspondence with local authorities, particularly with respect to the information on traffic flows. SSAs were calculated according to the formulae set out in the revenue support grant distribution report (England) approved by the House on 18 January using the indicator data as specified in annex A to that report.

Mrs. Maureen Hicks

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has any plans to cap Wolverhampton council's community charge in response to that council's proposal to set a community charge in excess of the Government's guideline.

Mr. Chope

We have made it clear that if authorities budget excessively for 1990–91 we shall not hesitate to cap them, but it would not be right for me to speculate on the detailed operation of any capping scheme we might need to introduce or on which authorities would be capped were we to introduce such a scheme.

108. Mr. Fraser

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how much he estimates the level of poll tax in Lambeth to be on the assumption that the current levels of expenditure including expenditure on education remain unchanged in 1990–91.

Mr. Chope

The exemplifications that the Department issued on 11 January show that if Lambeth borough council and the London fire and civil defence authority budget in line with our assumptions consistent with authorities broadly maintaining current policies, the community charge in Lambeth next year will be £308. The level of the actual charge set in Lambeth in 1990–91 is a matter for the council.

102. Mr. Meale

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received from the Association of District Councils on the introduction of the poll tax; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Chope

Over the last four years the Association of District Councils has been invited to comment on all aspects of the implementation of the community charge and has made many representations and suggestions.

95. Mr. Andrew MacKay

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will review the criteria for assessing rate support grant.

Mr. Chope

My right hon. Friend has said that he is prepared to consider new evidence relating to the standard spending assessments on which the distribution of revenue support grant is based. Any new evidence that comes to light will be taken into account before he issues his proposals for the 1991–92 RSG settlement.

93. Mr. Hayes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to reduce the rate capping ceiling for local authorities spending less than £15 million.

Mr. Chope

My right hon. Friend has no power to reduce the £15 million budget threshold in section 101 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988, below which local authorities are exempt from charge capping.

91. Mr. Squire

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he is taking to monitor the implementation of the community charge by local authorities.

Mr. Chope

The Department issued a questionnaire to all charging authorities in May 1989 which gave us a clear picture of how authorities were progressing with implementing the charge. A copy of the results of the survey were placed in the Library of the House on 6 December. The Department keeps in constant touch with local authorities and their software suppliers and has just completed a further series of visits to a number of authorities to monitor preparations for billing and collection of the charge later this year.

89. Mr. Day

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many representations he has received in favour of replacing the community charge with a tax on home improvement.

Mr. Chope

I am not aware of any such representations. Financing local expenditure through a charge linked to the capital value of people's homes would, however, amount to a tax on home improvement. The Government have no intention of introducing such a system.

67. Mr. Dykes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make a statement on the effect of the proposed community charge on the outer London boroughs.

Mr. Chope

If local authorities in outer London spend in line with our spending assumption, the average charge will be £320.

64. Mr. Leighton

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what recent representations he has received on the community charge.

105. Mr. French

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what recent representations he has received about the standard community charge.

Mr. Chope

We continue to receive a good many representations on all aspects of the community charge, including detailed aspects of how the standard charge may affect the owners of domestic property which is not used as a sole or main residence.

47. Mr. Burns

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what meetings he has had with private landlords on the implementation of the community charge in England and Wales.

Mr. Chope

So far as England is concerned, no such meetings have been sought by landlords or their representatives. The implementation of the community charge in Wales is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.

43. Mr. Sumberg

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received urging him to replace the community charge with a system of local income tax.

46. Mr. David Porter

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received seeking the introduction of a tax on home ownership in place of the community charge.

Mr. Boswell

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received seeking replacement of the community charge with a system of local government finance based on property values.

Mr. Chope

While we continue to receive a good many representations on all aspects of the community charge, very few correspondents suggest that this should be replaced by a system of local income tax and none that I am aware of are in favour of any form of roof tax. My hon. Friends' questions might be more appropriately directed to the hon. Member for Dagenham (Mr. Gould) who is reported to be wrestling with a policy that combines both types of tax in ways that have yet to be explained.

31. Mr. Hinchliffe

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his latest estimate of the number of local authorities setting a poll tax figure of £278 in 1990–91; and if he will make a statement.

36. Mr. Gill

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he is yet in a position to assess the amount of increased spending by county councils in the forthcoming year.

97. Mr. Terry Lewis

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what are his best estimates of the average level of poll tax in England in 1990–91; and if he will make a statement.

104. Mr. Beith

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment which local authorities have indicated an intention to levy a community charge at or below the Government's projected poll tax figure for their area.

Mr. Chope

Charging authorities are not required to set their amounts for the personal community charge until 1 April, and little firm information about charges set is yet available to the Department. Local authorities have recently been asked to report to the Department basic information about their spending plans and where appropriate the average charge set.

32. Mr. Loyden

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what criteria he intends to use in deciding which local authorities will be poll tax capped in 1990–91; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Chope

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 16 February to my hon. Friend the hon. Member for Southend, East (Mr. Taylor).