§ 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. Heseltine[pursuant to the reply, 18 March 1991, Official Report, column 40]: As my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer told the House today in his Budget speech, the Government are providing £4.3 billion of extra grant to local authorities in Great Britain in 1991–92 to permit a major reduction in community charges.
Accordingly, my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and for Wales and I shall shortly be introducing a Bill which, on enactment, will mean that the community charges which authorities have set for 1991–92 will be replaced by new lower charges. Each new charge will be £140 lower than the one it replaced, or zero in those cases where the original charge was less than £140. The Bill will suspend the liability of charge payers to pay any 1991–92 charges until a charge bill has been received reflecting the reduced charges.
The community charge reduction scheme will continue to help those who would still face large increases over their previous rate bills. Although the total help that will need to be given through this scheme will be much reduced by the lower charges announced today, I expect that, together with the effect of community charge and other benefits, it will mean that the average charge actually paid in England will be less than £170.
50WThe Bill will also require grants to be paid to charging authorities in England and Wales, and to local authorities in Scotland. It is our intention that the grants paid under these provisions should provide full compensation for the community charge income forgone and should also fully reimburse authorities for their reasonable additional administrative costs as a result of the reduction in charges. I also intend in England to advance the distribution of the non-domestic rates pool to offset the inevitable cash flow losses which authorities will incur as a result of this measure. Broadly similar funding arrangements are intended for Scotland and for Wales.
All this means that where authorities have already issued their charge bills for 1991–92–which many have already done—they will need after the Bill's enactment to issue fresh bills reflecting the new lower charges. Until fresh bills are issued authorities may think it best not to enforce payment from their charge payers. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales and I propose to amend the regulations on the community charge demand notice slightly to provide the basis for the new bills, but we believe not in ways that would result in significant changes to authorities' computing arrangements. Where authorities have not yet issued their bills, they may think it right to suspend action until bills complying with the new arrangements can be issued.
My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland will be advising Scottish authorities about the details for billing and collecting charges.