§ Mr. Clifton-BrownTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what the costs will be of setting up the new Valuation Tribunal Service; what the running cost will be each year; and how many employees it will have. [84422]
§ Mr. LeslieThe Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is establishing the Valuation Tribunal Service (VTS) to provide central direction to Valuation Tribunals (VTs), to help spread best practice, strengthen corporate identity and capacity and improve customer service. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is still working on the details but currently estimates that the set-up costs will be no more than a few hundred thousand pounds, and a similar annual amount for additional running costs. This expenditure will be met from the existing baseline for Valuation Tribunals through savings already achieved through rationalisation of staff and offices plus further savings which will result from the dissolution of the non statutory Valuation Tribunal Management Board and its fora.
VTs currently employ around 165 staff and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has no plans for that to change except for the recruitment of a small number of HQ staff. Future staffing requirements will be a matter for the VTS to determine. It will want to take into account its workload and the impact of the Non Domestic Rates revaluation in 2005, the Council Tax revaluation in 2007 and other matters relating to the efficient management of the service.