§ Mr. Derek TwiggTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what is the conclusion of the financial management and policy review of valuation tribunals. [80067]
§ Ms ArmstrongI have today placed in the Libraries of the House copies of the FMPR report of Valuation Tribunals. The report has also published on the DETR's web site.
This is the second FMPR of the VT service. It covers the full range of judicial, management and procedural issues. It takes account of extensive consultations with the VT service, the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), local authorities and the private sector.
766WWe have decided that VTs should remain lay, independent and local bodies. A move to the private sector is considered inappropriate for such quasi-judicial bodies. A national agency is also considered inappropriate at the moment, although an efficiency scrutiny might consider the scope for rationalising jurisdictions and support services for a range of similar services.
A new Management Board, supported by a new national office, is needed to set standards and spread best practice within the service. To raise the quality of the service requires a review of membership levels, new arrangements for their appointment, and a requirement for new members to attend appropriate training and to provide written certain undertakings.
Significant savings are to be made by the establishment of 14 administrative units to replace the 38 offices which existed at the start of the review. New staffing arrangements are needed to support the new administration structure. Consultants have recently been appointed to bring forward detailed proposals.
Effective administration needs the continued modernisation of the VT IT system, and better use of IT for communicating with the 'outside world'.
The appeal procedures need reform to reduce delays, improve information and guidance to rate and tax payers, and to address the existing culture of brinkmanship. The review recommends more effective incentives and a simpler system. These proposals are the subject of a further consultation paper, which I am also publishing today (copies of which have also been placed in the House Libraries and on the DETR's web site).
The aim is to implement recommendations on judicial management and staffing aspects by 1 April 2000. Changes to office accommodation and the establishment of the 14 administrative units will be phased in over a longer period. New appeal procedures need to be developed in time for appeals arising from the non-domestic rating revaluation on 1 April 2000, though implementation may need to be phased.