§ Mr. KynochTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on non-domestic rates for 1994–95.
§ Mr. LangThe Government remain firmly committed to the objective of reducing Scottish business rates to the level of the English national non-domestic rate—NNDR. I intend to prescribe rate poundages for 1994–95 at a level which will mean that Scottish businesses will pay £60 million less than they would otherwise have done next year. This reduction takes account of the business rates measure which my right hon. and learned Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in his Budget speech earlier today. I have decided that the most effective way to apply this measure to Scotland is to make a reduction in rate poundages next year which is £10 million greater than would otherwise have been possible.
As a result of the Government's unified business rates policy and our earlier decision to limit increases in poundages to no more than the rate of inflation from 1989–90 onwards, the total reduction in Scottish business rates is now around £500 million.
480WThe table shows the 1994–95 rate poundages which I intend to prescribe for each local authority in an order which I shall lay before the House very shortly. On the basis of those poundages, ratepayers in Berwickshire, Tweeddale, Moray and Gordon will join those in Kincardine and Deeside, Orkney and Shetland in being levied rates at the English NNDR level. Businesses in all other areas will have a cash reduction in their rates. All businesses benefit from the fact that, because of the low level of inflation, 1993–94 poundages have been uprated by only 1.7 per cent. I have again decided to make larger reductions to those poundages furthest from the English NNDR. As a result, the poundage reductions in real terms range from over 9.5 per cent in the case of Glasgow to 0.25 per cent. in the case of Gordon.
Local authorities are being asked to contribute by means of efficiency savings £12.5 million to the £60 million reduction in business rates. The remaining £47.5 million reduction in non-domestic rate income will be offset by an increase in revenue support grant within the total of aggregate external finance for Scottish local authorities for 1994–95 which I have announced separately today.
I have decided that the reduction in poundages should again be accompanied by a reduction in industrial derating. The level of derating will be reduced from 17.5 per cent. in the current year to 10.0 per cent. next year.
481W
Non-domestic rate poundages 1994–95 Local authorities 1994–95 poundages Borders 36.5 Central 42.3 Dumfries and Galloway 38.9 Fife 46.8 Grampian 34.7 Highland 41.9 Lothian 48.2 Strathclyde 46.7 Tayside 43.6 Berwickshire 5.8 Ettrick and Lauderdale 6.2 Roxburgh 6.7 Tweeddale 5.8 Clackmannan 5.8 Falkirk 4.6 Stirling 7.2 Annandale and Eskdale 5.2 Nithsdale 5.2 Stewartry 4.6 Wigtown 4.4 Dunfermline 1.1 Kirkcaldy 2.2 North East Fife 1.7 Aberdeen City 8.4 Banff and Buchan 7.8 Gordon 7.6 Kincardine and Deeside 7.6 Moray 7.6 Badenoch and Strathspey 2.2 Caithness 3.7 Inverness 2.7 Lochaber 4.5 Nairn 2.2 Ross and Cromarty 3.7 Skye and Lochalsh 3.6 Sutherland 2.6 East Lothian 1.8 Edinburgh City 1.6 Midlothian 1.8 West Lothian 1.1 Argyll and Bute 3.3 Bearsden and Milngavie 1.2
Local authorities 1994–95 poundages Clydebank 3.5 Clydesdale 2.5 Cumbernauld and Kilsyth 2.5 Cumnock and Doon Valley 2.7 Cunninghame 3.8 Dumbarton 3.3 East Kilbride 1.7 Eastwood 0.2 Glasgow City 6.2 Hamilton 3.0 Inverclyde 2.3 Kilmarnock and Loudoun 2.5 Kyle and Carrick 2.7 Monklands 3.0 Motherwell 2.5 Renfrew 3.0 Strathkelvin 2.3 Angus 3.2 Dundee City 5.9 Perth and Kinross 3.4 Orkney 42.3 Shetland 42.3 Western Isles 48.5