§ The Minister for Local Government, Regional Governance and Fire (Mr. Nick Raynsford)I am publishing today figures showing that English councils have collected an extra £40 million in council taxes this year. The tables are available in both Libraries of the House. They can also be found at the website of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister,http://www.odpm.gov.uk/.
The figures demonstrate the continuing success of a joint initiative launched in 2001 by the Government and the Local Government Association (LGA) to help poorly performing councils improve their collection rates.
The council taxes and non-domestic rates collection results 2002–03 show that English councils had collected £14.09 billion in council taxes by the end of March 2003. The figures represent 96.4 per cent. of the £14.62 billion collectable. This is an increase of 0.3 percentage points on top of the previous year's increase of 0.3 percentage points.
I am very pleased local authorities are continuing to improve their collection of council tax. By working in partnership with the LGA we have been able to support councils in their efforts. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will continue this partnership in particular with the development of a Good Practices Guide for local authorities.
It is important councils keep up their good work. The money collected for council tax is spent on essential public services and unpaid taxes create a burden for those residents who do pay.
The councils showing the best improvements in their performance included some of those that had previously had the lowest collection rates, such as Hackney, which improved its collection rate from 74 per cent. during 2001–02 to 79.5 per cent. this year—an increase of 5.5 percentage points; Torridge, which improved its collection rate from 92.1 per cent. during 2001–02 to 97.1 per cent. this year—an increase of 5.0 percentage points; and Lambeth, which improved its collection rate from 86.5 per cent during 2001–02 to 90.1 per cent. this year–an increase of 3.6 percentage points.
Other improving councils included Newham (increase of 3.2 percentage points), Leicester (increase of 3 percentage points), Derby and Eastbourne (increase of 2.5 percentage points) and Haringey and Waltham Forest (increase of 2.4 percentage points).
In addition, collection rates for non-domestic rates (business rates) were released today. Figures show that £14.89 billion in non-domestic rates for 2002–03 had 44WS been collected by the end of March. This represents 98.2 per cent. of the £15.17 billion collectable, an improvement of 0.3 percentage points on last year.
Additionally, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has collected information on the level of arrears outstanding. Total gross arrears in England for council tax as at 31 March 2003 are estimated to have been £1.5 billion. Estimated total gross arrears figures for England at the end of March 2003 for non-domestic rates and community charge are also available. These total £0.7 billion and £0.1 billion respectively.