§ Mrs. CurrieTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will set out the total amounts paid by central Government as rate rebates, community charge 35W rebates and transitional relief for every year since 1975, including an estimate for 1990–91, in cash and real terms and as a proportion of total local government spending.
§ Mr. KeyThe information available is as follows:
Domestic rate rebates paid by central government Cash (£ million) In 1989–90 prices (£ million) Per cent, of local authority gross revenue expenditure England and Wales 1975–76 106 355 1 1976–77 114 336 1 1977–78 125 324 1 1978–79 134 314 1 1979–80 158 317 1 1980–81 219 371 1 England 1981–82 304 470 2 1982–83 433 625 2 1983–84 1,009 1,392 4 1984–85 1,126 1,478 5 1985–86 1,219 1,517 5 1986–87 1,349 1,624 5 1987–88 1,391 1,588 5 1988–89 1,129 1,201 4 1989–90 1,210 1,210 4 Initial claims from local authorities for community charge rebate subsidy and transitional relief grant in 1990–91 total £1,828 million and £260 million (£1,693 million and £241 million in 1989–90 prices) respectively. These figures represent 4 per cent. and 1 per cent. of the estimated local authority gross revenue expenditure in the year though due to changes in the system of local government finance these percentages are not comparable to the earlier years.
§ Mrs. CurrieTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will set out in cash per head of population for each local authority, the amounts allocated by central Government in(a) grants, (b) community charge rebates and (c) transitional relief for 1990–91, with an estimate for 1991–92, ranked in order of the community charge levied by each authority.
§ Mr. KeyI am arranging for the available information for 1990–91 to be placed in the Library of the House. Information on community charge rebates and transitional relief grant for local authorities in 1991–92 is not
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Illustrative impact of capital value based domestic rates and local income tax Local income tax Capital value based domestic rates bill per property valued Rate in the pound Bill with taxable income of £50,000 £80,000 £120,000 Pence £8,000 £12,800 £ £ £ £ £ Cornwall Caradon 483 773 1,160 6.7 536 858 Carrick 500 800 1,200 6.9 552 883 Kerrier 488 781 1,172 6.7 536 858 North Cornwall 474 758 1,137 6.5 520 832 Penwith 454 727 1,090 6.2 496 794 Restormel 469 750 1,125 6.4 512 819 Devon East Devon 485 776 1,164 6.7 536 858 Exeter 497 795 1,193 6.9 552 883 Mid Devon 512 820 1,230 7.1 568 909 North Devon 493 789 1,184 6.8 544 870 Plymouth 481 769 1,154 6.6 528 845 South Hams 481 769 1,153 6.6 528 845 available while authorities are now in the process of informing the Department of their average community charge.
§ Mr. HaywardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what action he intends to take against councils that fail to pursue individuals who have not paid the community charge.
§ Mr. KeyCharging authorities are required by regulations made under the Local Government Finance Act 1988 to bill all chargeable persons in their area. They have extensive powers to enforce payment. If an authority decides not to enforce an outstanding charge and writes off the amount it will have to justify its decision to the auditor. Any amount properly deemed uncollectable must be taken into account when setting charges for future years. Failure to take effective enforcement action will only add to the amount that charge payers are required to pay in subsequent years.
§ Mr. John EvansTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what grant per poll tax payer is received by St. Helens metropolitan borough council.
§ Mr. KeyGovernment grants, consisting of revenue support grant, special grants, specific grants in aggregate external finance, community charge benefit grant and transitional relief grant, per head of relevant population in 1990–91 are £448 in St. Helens metropolitan borough council.
§ Mr. Robert HicksTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if, for 1990–91 and 1991–92, he will list for each local authority in Cornwall and Devon the estimated capital domestic rates for properties with a property value of £50,000, £80,000 and £120,000 and rates of local income tax required, together with the resultant tax bill for a person with a taxable income of £8,000 and £12,800 implied by levels of local authority income requirements.
§ Mr. KeyThe level of bills in a particular local authority area with a capital value-based property tax, or a local income tax, would depend on the precise way in which such a system was introduced.
Illustrative figures showing possible bills in 1990–91 were placed in the Library on 4 April 1990. The table provides the information requested based on these figures. Comparable information for 1991–92 is not available.
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Local income tax Capital value based domestic rates bill per property valued Rate in the pound Bill with taxable income of £50,000 £80,000 £120,000 Pence £8,000 £12,800 £ £ £ £ £ Teignbridge 527 843 1,265 7.4 592 947 Torbay 594 950 1,425 8.5 680 1,088 Torridge 497 796 1,194 6.9 552 883 West Devon 484 774 1,161 6.7 536 858
§ Mr. Patrick ThompsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what will be the arrangements for reimbursing local authorities for costs incurred in connection with the community charge reduction scheme.
§ Mr. PortilloThe community charge reduction scheme which replaces transitional relief will reduce personal community charges for about 18 million people in 1991–92. Local authorities will be reimbursed in full for the income forgone as a result of the scheme. In addition they will receive grant in respect of all reasonable preparation and administration costs.
The proposals which I am announcing today are based on the framework of the current grant arrangements for the transitional relief scheme. This approach has been discussed and agreed with the local authority associations.
Preparation costs will be reimbursed in full on the basis of the actual expenditure incurred, as confirmed by the authority's auditor. This will largely cover the modification of existing transitional relief computer software and related expenditure.
General administrative costs, in particular dealing with inquiries, will be reimbursed at a flat rate of 15p per charge payer, with an allowance for higher costs in London.
In addition to the flat rate per charge payer, local authorities will be reimbursed for the costs of administering the reduction scheme for residents of sheltered accommodation on the basis of a flat rate of 50p per resident of sheltered accommodation, with an allowance for higher costs in London.
Applications for extra reductions will be reimbursed at the same rate as under the transitional relief scheme of £3 per charge payer, plus an allowance for London, for each application made, including the cost of dealing with unsuccessful applications.
Where authorities send out bills without taking reductions into account and second bills have to be issued, the cost of printing and postage will be reimbursed at the rate of 50p each. This will not apply where the second bill relates to a substitute charge.
Initial claims from local authorities indicate that preparation and administration costs for the transitional relief scheme will be close to provision of £21 million. On the basis of the proposals which I have announced today, the additional preparation and administrative costs grant for the implementation of the new reductions scheme would be about £10 million in total.
§ Mr. OppenheimTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will give figures for(a) rate support grant per head, (b) business rate income per head, (c) total aggregate external finance and (d) spending per head for each county council in England.
§ Mr. Key[holding answer 14 March 1991]: Community charges, revenue support grant and receipts from the non-domestic rate pool are not paid directly to individual authorities but rather into a collection fund operated by, 38W but separate from, the charging authority in each area. Shire counties precept upon this collection fund for their income. It is not possible to determine how much of their income is from each particular source.
Budgeted expenditure in 1990–91 per head of relevant population for each of the shire counties £ Avon 787 Bedfordshire 851 Berkshire 797 Buckinghamshire 812 Cambridgeshire 768 Cheshire 802 Cleveland 987 Cornwall 778 Cumbria 802 Derbyshire 812 Devon 748 Dorset 673 Durham 783 East Sussex 686 Essex 742 Gloucestershire 756 Hampshire 713 Hereford and Worcester 697 Hertfordshire 748 Humberside 867 Isle of Wight 754 Kent 725 Lancashire 853 Leicestershire 830 Lincolnshire 730 Norfolk 704 Northamptonshire 814 Northumberland 743 North Yorkshire 725 Nottinghamshire 841 Oxfordshire 784 Shropshire 789 Somerset 780 Staffordshire 730 Suffolk 740 Surrey 668 Warwickshire 763 West Sussex 642 Wiltshire 744
§ Mr. SpeedTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the percentage of community charge payers who have so far paid their bills for each district in Kent.
§ Mr. Key[holding answer 15 March 1991]: The available information, returned by the local authorities is as follows:
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Percentage of personal community charge payers making a payment by 31 December 1990 Per cent. Ashford 95.8 Canterbury 97.0 Dartford 95.2 Gillingham 95.0
Per cent. Gravesham 95.1 Maidstone 95.0 Rochester upon Medway 86.6 Sevenoaks 89.9 Swale 88.2 Thanet 83.2 Tonbridge and Malling 93.8 Tunbridge Wells 90.2 In Dover and Shepway 87 per cent. and 85 per cent. of personal community charge payers had made a payment by 30 September 1990, respectively.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what account is taken of the receipt of unemployability supplement in the calculation of entitlement to transitional relief and community charge benefit.
§ Mr. Key[holding answer 15 March 1991]: Broadly, the calculation of transitional relief is based on the difference between the domestic rates in 1989–90 and the community charge, although disabled people who are not former ratepayers and whose partner is not a former ratepayer may be entitled to extra transitional relief if on 1 April 1990 they met one or more of the conditions conferring the right to a community charge benefit disability premium. These conditions do not include unemployability supplement but a person in receipt of the supplement may meet the conditions, for example through receipt of attendance allowance. Community charge benefit takes into account unemployability supplement in the calculation of a claimant's net earnings.
§ Mr. SpeedTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the community charge figures declared by each district in England for the forthcoming year in ascending values.
§ Mr. Key[holding answer 15 March 1991]: I am arranging for the information for those local authorities that have, to date, made returns to the Department to be placed in the Library of the House. Until results are reported by all authorities it is inappropriate to place them in rank order.