§ Sir Eldon GriffithsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, pursuant to his statement on the community charge reduction scheme, how this affects the provision of compensating grant to help make up loss of revenue from United States air force personnel who previously paid rates but are exempt from the community charge.
§ Mr. PortilloThe statement of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State about the community charge reduction scheme does not affect the payment of grant to local authorities in respect of members of the United States air force who are exempt from the community charge.
§ Mr. CritchleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he intends to reimburse local authorities for community charge income forgone from service personnel normally resident in their areas who have been posted to the Gulf; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. KeyWe propose to introduce a scheme under section 146 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 to compensate local authorities for the income forgone where service personnel normally resident in their area have been posted to the Gulf.
Under the proposed scheme, a special grant will be paid to local authorities in respect of service personnel who have ceased to be liable for the personal community charge because they have been posted to the Gulf. The grant will be paid if the income lost to the authority amounts to more than 0.25 per cent. of the total income from personal community charges for the period. Grant will be payable on the excess above this threshold, but will assume that the charge set by the authority was equal to the community charge for standard spending. Grant will be paid for the period beginning on 1 January 1991.
It will not be possible to calculate the full amount of the grant, or the precise amounts to be paid to individual charging authorities, until the duration of the absences of service personnel is known. When those details are available a report will be laid before the House setting out the purpose of the grant, the amount to be paid to each authority and an explanation of how the amounts were calculated
The Department of the Environment is writing today to notify local authorities of the proposed scheme. The local authority associations are being invited to join in urgent discussions on the arrangements in detail. Local authorities should take these proposals into account when drawing up their budgets and setting their community charges for 1991–92.
109WMy right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Wales and for Scotland intend to make similar arrangements for local authorities in Wales and Scotland.
§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many cases are currently before the courts as a result of failure to pay the community charge; and if he will estimate the costs involved in pursuing those who fail to pay their community charge.
§ Mr. KeyInformation on community charge cases currently before the courts is not held centrally. Figures are not available for the costs of community charge enforcement.