§ Sir David SteelTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what was the cost to both local and central government of administration involved with the collection of the poll tax across Scotland; how many staff were involved; what is the cost of administration involved in the collection of the council tax across Scotland and how staff are involved; what was the cost of administering the transition period between the poll tax and the council tax; and how many staff were involved. [19522]
249W
§ Mr. LangThe net cost to local authorities of collecting both the community charge and the council tax since the introduction of the community charge in 1989–90 is given in the table below. As local tax collection is purely a local authority function, no central Government staff or costs are involved. Information on the numbers of local authority staff involved in the collection process is not held centrally. Records of the costs incurred by local authorities in relation to the change from the community charge to the council tax are not held centrally and central Government costs cannot be separately identified.
£000 1989–90 10,426 1990–91 25,817 1991–92 25,618 1992–93 29,595 1993–94 40,128 1994–95 28,800 Notes:
1. All expenditure figures are net of any related income and loan and leasing charges.
2. The figures for the year 1989–90 to 1993–94 are final outturns. The figure for 1994–95 is a budget estimate.