§ The Minister for Local Government and the Regions (Mr. Nick Raynsford)The Government recognises that council tax information may be useful to local authority empty homes services in their work to get such property back into use. However, it is unclear whether legislation as it currently stands allows either personal or non-personal information collected for council tax purposes to be divulged to, or used by, other parts of an authority and we are aware that the Information Commissioner has advised that the legislation does not permit such uses of council tax personal information.
The Government has therefore decided to legislate in the forthcoming Local Government Bill to make it clear local authorities can use personal and non-personal council tax information to support the development and implementation of strategies dealing with empty homes. In legislating, we will ensure that personal information will be limited to an individual's name or an address or number for communicating with him. I believe this is a sensible and proportionate response which will help get more long term empty domestic property back into use.