§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the total level of poll tax arrears outstanding at the end of 1990–91 and 1991–92.
§ Mr. Robin SquireI refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister for Local Government and Inner Cities on 7 July to the hon. Member for Sheffield, Brightside (Mr. Blunkett),Official Report column 163.
§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how council tax arrears will be treated within local authority financial arrangements; and whether he has any plans to treat such arrears or interest incurred on them as expenditure for the purpose of calculating capping levels.
§ Mr. Robin SquireIt will be the responsibility of each billing authority to collect its arrears of council tax; we intend that any costs of collection and associated interest charges incurred in a year by the authority should fall to be met from its budget for the year, which under the Local Government Finance Act 1992 will be subject to any capping regime.
§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list all measures which a local authority may take to collect poll tax and arrears of poll tax.
§ Mr. Robin SquireOnce it has obtained a liability order from a court an authority may collect unpaid community charges by any of the following methods: an attachment of earnings order; distress; deductions from income support; charging orders (for collective community charges only); bankruptcy and winding up. An authority may not pursue more than one of these remedies at the same time.
If, having attempted to levy distress, an authority is unable to find any or sufficient goods to distrain, it may seek to have the chargepayer committed to prison.
§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list all the measures which a local authority may take to collect council tax and any arreas of council tax.
§ Mr. Robin SquireOnce it has obtained a liability order from a court an authority may collect unpaid council taxes by any of the following methods: an attachment of earnings order; distress; deductions from income support; charging orders; attachment of councillors' allowances; and bankruptcy and winding up. An authority may not pursue more than one of these remedies at the same time.
If, having attempted to levy distress, an authority is unable to find any or sufficient goods to distrain, it may seek to have the chargepayer committed to prison.
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§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is his estimate of poll tax arrears which will exist at the end of 1992–93.
§ Mr. Robin SquireMy Department has not made any estimate of the level of community charge arrears at the end of 1992–93.
§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how poll tax arrears, outstanding at the end of 1992–93 and interest incurred on them, will be treated in future financial years; and whether he has any plans to treat outstanding arrears or interest incurred on them as expenditure for the purposes of calculating capping levels.
§ Mr. Robin SquireIt is the responsibility of each billing authority to collect its arrears of community charges outstanding at the end of 1992–93; we intend that any costs of collection and associated interest charges incurred by the authority in 1993–94 and subsequent years should fall to be met from its budget for the year, which under the Local Government Finance Act 1992 will be subject to any capping regime.
Year Average weekly rent Private and Housing Association Unfurnished Furnished Housing Benefit Average weekly Housing Benefit per property Number of properties at 31 December (private rented only) Great Britain England £ £ £m £ thousands 1983–84 — — 483 4.10 1,849 1984–85 12.30 21.00 614 5.30 1,778 1985–86 13.80 24.80 784 6.90 1,709 1986–87 19.80 30.40 875 7.90 1,641 1987–88 18.80 35.20 891 8.20 1,580 1988–89 22.50 36.90 915 8.60 1,532 1989–90 21.90 40.80 1,159 10.90 1,507 1990–91 30.50 53.30 1,360 12.50 1,507 1991–92 — — 1,886 117.10 11,506 1Provisional. The source of the rent information is the "Family Expenditure Survey" (FES). The rents relate to the nearest calender year to each financial year—1983 rents are shown for 1983–84, etc. As the FES is a sample survey the estimates of rent are subject to sampling error.
Information on housing benefit is available for tenants of private landlords and housing associations together but not separately.
§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment whether he has any plans to seek to amend legislation or regulations relating to the transfer of homes from local authority to other forms of ownership and the terms and conditions under which such transfers took place.
§ Mr. BaldryI refer the hon. Member to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning on 21 May 1992 to my hon. Friend the Member for Havant (Mr. Willets),Official Report, column 198. The consultation paper will be published shortly.
§ Mr. BettsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list for housing association properties for each of the last 10 years(a) the average rent levels, (b) the total housing benefit paid, (c) the average benefit paid per property and (d) the number of properties at the year end.
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§ Mr. AmessTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what criteria his Department uses to determine a council's standard spending assessment.
§ Mr. Robin SquireThe method by which standard spending assessments are calculated for all authorities is set out in the "Revenue Support Grant Distribution Report (England)" as amended by subsequent amendment reports. These are debated and approved by the House annually and copies are available in the Library.