§ Lord Harris of Greenwichasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they are aware that officials of Cambridge City Council are demanding the production of community charge receipts before granting residents' parking permits in the Tenison Road area parking scheme and whether this is consistent with the assurances given to Parliament during the passage of the Local Government Finance Act 1988.
Baroness Blatch: The community charges registration officer for a charging authority may request certain information from within his authority in order to compile and maintain his or her own register. The charging authority generally may also use information obtained under any other enactment in order to collect the charge, provided that the information was not obtained by the authority in its capacity as police authority. These provisions do not confer the power to withhold services where a person has not met his or her liability to pay the community charge but I am not aware that this has been the policy of Cambridge City Council.