§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what plans he has to reduce the council tax burden for the lowest bands. [103240]
§ Ms Beverley HughesHelp with council tax bills for people on low incomes is already provided through the means-tested council tax benefit system.
We considered the need for changes to the council tax bands in the review which culminated in our 1998 White Paper, "Modern Local Government—In Touch with the People". We explained that the council tax was generally working well and that we did not plan to make any fundamental changes to it in the course of this Parliament.