§ Mr. Matthew TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many and which councils have(a) written off and (b) not written off arrears of community charge in each of the last three years; and if he will assess what factors have led them to do so. [28200]
§ Mr. RaynsfordThe Department does not collect information about the amounts of community charges written off by local authorities, and I have no plans to carry out an assessment of the factors which would led them to do so. Local authorities should only write-off debts where they are uneconomic to pursue.
The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy Statistical Information Service publish figures each year for the amounts of community charges written off by those authorities which respond to their survey. Copies of the publications for the last three years are available in the Library.