§ Mr. Richard ShepherdTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the amount of poll tax currently outstanding for each of the seven west midlands metropolitan authorities; and if he will list the collection costs for the council tax in the last year for which figures are available in each of those authorities. [15492]
§ Sir Paul BeresfordEstimates of the levels of community charge arrears for individual authorities are published regularly by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy. The latest information relates to the position at 31 March 1995 and is available in the revenue collection statistics 1994–95 publication in the Library. The figures for the west midlands authorities are as follows:
£000 Arrears of community charge at: Council tax collection costs budgeted 31 March 1995 31 March 1994 11996–97 Birmingham 19,725 — 5,604 Coventry 14,351 — 2,630 Dudley 4,752 — 1,540 Sandwell 11,155 — 3,143 Solihull 3,505 — 1,469 Walsall 2— 12,959 1,676 Wolverhampton 2— 2— 1,594 1Source: Revenue Accounts (RA) 1996–97 return. 2No information was published by CIPFA for Walsall for 31 March 1995 or for Wolverhampton since community charge was abolished.