§ Lord Sefton of Garstonasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many, and which, religious communities are exempt from community charge payments.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of the Environment (Baroness Blatch)About 10,000 individual members of religious communities are exempt from the personal community charge. Information is not collected on the number or types of religious community. However, for the purposes of the Local Government Finance Act 1988, a religious community is broadly defined as one whose principal occupations are prayer, contemplation, the relief of suffering or education. The exemption applies to people who have no income or capital of their own and who are dependent upon their religious community for their material needs.