Local Government Finance (Hansard, 25 July 1990)

§ 26. Mr. Donald Thompson
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many adults in England(a) are eligible to pay the community charge and (b) were registered to pay domestic rates in their last year of existence.

§ Mr. Nicholls
Some 36 million adults are eligible to pay the community charge this year compared with around 18 million domestic ratepayers under the previous system.

§ 43. Mr. Tom Clarke
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he next expects to meet the Association of Metropolitan Authorities and the Association of County Councils to discuss the implications for poll tax projections of central Government funding for local services in 1991–92.

§ Mr. Nicholls
My right hon. Friend is planning to meet representatives of the Association of Metropolitan Authorities, the Association of County Councils and other local authority associations at the Consultative Council on Local Government Finance on 17 September. At the meeting he expects to discuss the level and distribution of central Government support for local authority spending in 1991–92.

§ 40. Mr. David Evans
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many charge payers he estimates will have their community charge bill reduced in 1990–91 as a result of the community charge capping of a number of designated local authorities.

§ Mr. Nicholls
More than 4 million.

§ 37. Mr. John Greenway
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what plans he has to improve further the assessment of the spending needs of local authorities; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Lofthouse
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what consideration he has given to changes in standard spending assessments for 1991–92; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Nicholls
My right hon. Friend will announce his proposals for standard spending assessments in the autumn.

§ 35. Mr. Michael Brown
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has received any representations in favour of replacing the community charge with a property tax based on notional rental values.

§ 46. Mr. Tredinnick
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has received any recent representations in favour of replacing the community charge with a property tax based on capital values.

§ 56. Miss Widdecombe
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many representations he has received in favour of replacing the community charge with the old system of domestic rates.

§ 64. Mr. Malcolm Bruce
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what recent representations he has received in favour of a return to the domestic rates.

§ 96. Mr. Watts
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 property.
347W

§ Mr. Butler
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many representations he has received in favour of a return to domestic rates.

§ Mr. Nicholls
I continue to receive representations on all aspects of local government finance. Not surprisingly, very few of these favour a return to domestic rates.

§ Mr. Nicholas Brown
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many people, and what proportion, of those required to pay 20 per cent. of their poll tax were liable to pay rates.

§ Mr. Nicholls
[holding answer 23 July 1990]: I estimate that the community charge bill for about 4 million adults is 20 per cent. or less of the personal charge for their area, and for 2.4 million of this 4 million (58 per cent.) either they or their spouses were former ratepayers.

§ Mr. Higgins
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what percentages of local authority expenditure in the current year are financed from the community charge, the unified business rate and central Government support(a) on average in England and (b) in Worthing.

§ Mr. Portillo
The information is as follows.

Percentage of Local Authority Expenditure Financed by:

England per cent. Worthing per cent.

Community charge¹ 27.0 36.4

Unified business rate 26.0 40.1

Central government support² 45.3 22.9

Use of reserves 1.7 0.6

¹ Community charges net of community charge benefit and transitional relief grant as reported on authorities' budget returns. These grants are included in Central Government support.

² Comprising Revenue Support Grant, safety net adjustments, special grants and specific and supplementary grants both inside and outside Aggregate External Finance.

§ Ms. Abbott
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the estimated cost to the Exchequer of abolishing the requirement to pay poll tax of those who are currently required to pay only 20 per cent. of the poll tax.

§ Mr. Nicholls
Based on local authority returns, I estimate that 500,000 students currently receive relief under section 13 of the Local Government Finance Act 1988. It is estimated that these students will pay about £40 million in community charge this year.
The cost of increasing the maximum reduction available through community charge benefit to 100 per cent. is a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Security.

§ Mr. Stern
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will make it his policy to collect and to report to the House the average costs of collection of the community charge in its first year in England and Wales(a) per community charge payer and (b) as a proportion of the charge collected.

§ Mr. Nicholls
Yes.

§ 113. Mr. Dykes
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what recent representations he has received about his proposals to charge-cap local authorities.
348W

§ Mr. Portillo
My right hon. Friend received a number of representations about his proposals on caps for those local authorities designated for charge capping in 1990–91.

§ 91. Mr. Lewis
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what are his best estimates of the losses on poll tax collection likely to be incurred in 1990–91.

§ Mr. Nicholls
The Government have made no separate estimates or assumptions about losses in the collection of the community charge. There is no reason why the percentage volume of community charge arrears should be any greater than under the rating system.

§ 93. Mr. David Shaw
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether the Government intend to retain the power to cap local authority budgets.

§ Mr. Nicholls
Yes.

§ 77. Mr. Boyes
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what are his best estimates of the likely average level of poll tax in 1991–92; and if he will make a statement.

§ 101. Mr. Barron
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he has made any assessment of spending needs of local authorities for the coming financial year 1991–92; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Nicholls
I refer the hon. Members to the statement which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State made to the House on 19 July.

§ 80. Mr. Oppenheim
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he last met the Association of District Councils; and whether community charge levels were discussed.

§ 75. Mr. Anthony Coombs
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment when he last met the Association of County Councils; and whether levels of local authority spending were discussed.

§ Mr. Nicholls
My right hon. Friend met representatives of the Association of District Councils, the Association of County Councils and other local authority associations at the meeting of the Consultative Council on Local Government Finance on 5 July. The meeting discussed the level of spending planned by local authorities in 1990–91, the need for spending by local authorities in 1991–92, and the implications for community charge levels.

§ 70. Mr. Andrew Smith
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what recent representations he has received concerning his Department's review of the poll tax.

§ Mr. Nicholls
My right hon. Friend has received a number of representations.

§ 60. Mr. Terry Fields
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will bring forward proposals to replace the community charge.

§ 98. Mr. Devlin
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has any plans to review the operation of the community charge with a view to restricting payment to only one person in every household.

§ 103. Mr. Ken Hargreaves
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will outline the principles which guided him in conducting his review of the community charge.
349W

§ Mr. Nicholls
I have nothing to add to the statement made by my right hon. Friend on 19 July.

§ 52. Mr. Hayward
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has any plans to meet local authority leaders to discuss alternatives to the community charge.

§ Mr. Nicholls
I refer my hon. Friend to the reply given by my hon. Friend the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, the Member for Southampton, Itchen (Mr. Chope), to my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow, West (Mr. Dykes) on Friday 20 July,Official Report, Volume 176, column 738.

§ 47. Mr. Franks
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many students in further education under 20 years of age have applied for exemption from the community charge.

§ Mr. Nicholls
Information about applications for exemptions is not available centrally. I shall publish estimates of numbers of exempt persons when data are available from local authority returns.

Percentage of Local Authority Expenditure Financed by:
	England per cent.	Worthing per cent.
Community charge¹	27.0	36.4
Unified business rate	26.0	40.1
Central government support²	45.3	22.9
Use of reserves	1.7	0.6
¹ Community charges net of community charge benefit and transitional relief grant as reported on authorities' budget returns. These grants are included in Central Government support.
² Comprising Revenue Support Grant, safety net adjustments, special grants and specific and supplementary grants both inside and outside Aggregate External Finance.