Mr Win Griffiths (Bridgend, Labour)

With this it will be convenient to discuss new clause 6—Notification to non-domestic ratepayers of BID proposal—

'Prior to the holding of a ballot of relevant non-domestic ratepayers in accordance with section 51(1), the billing authority shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that every non-domestic ratepayer eligible to vote in the ballot shall receive such information regarding the BID proposal and such information as will facilitate, each such non-domestic ratepayer being able readily to calculate the amount of BID levy that will be payable by him, as the Secretary of State shall prescribe.'.

Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Cotswold, Conservative)

I had not anticipated such a long debate this morning on the administrative matters affecting BIDs and I shall therefore move new clause 6 fairly quickly. It builds on what we have already discussed.

The new clause is pretty straightforward and would impose a pre-ballot requirement on those who draw up the BID proposals. After all, there would be no point in drawing up proposals and going to the trouble of a ballot unless one took the maximum trouble to ensure that it succeeded; that would be a complete waste of time and money. The new clause is intended to ensure that every non-domestic ratepayer eligible to vote in a ballot would receive the relevant information about the BID proposal

''and such information as will facilitate, each non-domestic ratepayer being able readily to calculate the amount''.

Those last few words are the important ones. I do not think that the Minister really understood what I was trying to say about this issue earlier, or that he has tried to calculate the amount of non-domestic rate payable. It is horrifically complicated, particularly where transitional arrangements are involved.

Many BID proposals will involve small businesses with very limited resources, time and personnel for calculating what they are likely to have to pay.

Mr Patrick Hall (Bedford, Labour)

rose—

Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Cotswold, Conservative)

If someone is going to have to vote on a scheme, they need a fair idea of exactly what they will have to pay. If the average small business is told simply that the multiplier on its non-domestic rate

is X, that is almost as good as sending out a notice in Greek.

Mr Edward Davey (Kingston & Surbiton, Liberal Democrat)

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Cotswold, Conservative)

No. I have been asked by the hon. Member for Bedford (Mr. Hall) to give way, and I shall happily do so. We need from the Government an idea of how the information is to be disseminated. If matters get to the point of a ballot, it is surely in everyone's interest that it should succeed.

Mr Patrick Hall (Bedford, Labour)

(Bedford) I do not follow the hon. Gentleman's argument about the immense complication and difficulty for business partners in a BID scheme of working out what they will have to pay. The scheme will have to specify in advance that it will apply a figure of 1 per cent. or 5 per cent., for example, of the business rate bill. All that businesses will have to do is apply that simple percentage to what they pay. Surely they are capable of that?

Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Cotswold, Conservative)

I suspect that the hon. Member for Bedford and the hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton will try the same tack, which shows that they do not know how the system works. I assure hon. Members that they will find out, on reading some of the formulas that we shall discuss in a little while, how difficult it is in the non-domestic rates system to calculate the actual amount payable, which is what businesses will be interested in. They might want to ask themselves, after studying those formulas, how easy it would be for them to work out, given the multiplier, the amount payable. It will be interesting to hear what they have to say.

Mr Win Griffiths (Bridgend, Labour)

I remind hon. Members that although we are debating new clause 6 it will be moved and, if necessary, voted on only at the appropriate point later on.

Mr Desmond Swayne (New Forest West, Conservative)

The hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton spoke of the need for financial certainty to generate enthusiasm for the BID, and the Under-Secretary readily agreed. Therefore, when we come to that part of our proceedings, I fully expect him to say that he will accept new clause 6, because it self-evidently supports the sentiments that he has agreed to.

Will the Minister tell us the meaning of

''as to the persons who may draw up BID proposals''

in subsection (2)(a)? Will the local authority be among those who draw up the proposals, or will that be confined exclusively to the community as represented by the business, town centre or whatever group sets up the BID? It is important to give an indication of the extent to which local authorities are intimately involved in the process.

Mr Edward Davey (Kingston & Surbiton, Liberal Democrat)

I urge the Minister not to accept new clause 6. It is a centralising measure asking the Secretary of State to prescribe the information that those who draw up local BIDs will have to provide. That goes against the thrust of the way in which successful BIDs—

Mr Desmond Swayne (New Forest West, Conservative)

Moments ago, the hon. Gentleman was chiding my hon. Friend on how simple it would be

to provide precisely the information set out. The information is elementary and would generate enthusiasm for the BID. It is remarkable that he considers such an elementary condition to be so onerous and centralising.

Mr Edward Davey (Kingston & Surbiton, Liberal Democrat)

I am not against that essential and easy piece of information being provided, but I want local people to decide what information is provided. I do not want to give the Secretary of State the power to prescribe everything in every BID throughout the country. That would go against the thrust of the BID proposal.

I hope that people who are establishing BIDs—I hope that this helps the hon. Gentleman—will provide a whole range of information that is relevant to their areas and to people and businesses in their areas. I do not want the Secretary of State to be able to intervene and make prescriptive regulations in every case.

Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Cotswold, Conservative)

I think that the hon. Gentleman has misunderstood the purpose of new clause 6. It is not the Secretary of State who must give the information. The Secretary of State draws up the general guidance on how such things will be done and it is then up to the people involved to decide how the information is disseminated. I am making the point as clearly as I can. If we do not disseminate information properly, there will be less chance of the ballot succeeding.

Mr Edward Davey (Kingston & Surbiton, Liberal Democrat)

That is why the people in the area will provide the information and why I do not want the Secretary of State to prescribe it. The last seven words of new clause 6 are

''as the Secretary of State shall prescribe.''

Mr Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (Cotswold, Conservative)

Prescribe generally.

Mr Edward Davey (Kingston & Surbiton, Liberal Democrat)

That seems to be giving a power to the Secretary of State. I want the powers covering information to be given to local businesses that are pushing for BIDs. The best way in which to ensure that the vote will succeed is to provide information to voters. I urge the Minister not to take the extra powers that are being offered to him by Conservative Members.

Mr Robert Syms (Poole, Conservative)

I should declare an interest, which is listed in the Register of Members' Interests, as the director of a family property company. I should have done that when I last intervened and I hope that hon. Members are fully aware of my particular interest.

The arrangements for the BID proposal make it quite clear that a proposal could come from business or a local authority. I suspect that any sort of proposal will be in the nature of some sort of bargain in that a local business will be told, ''You contribute more to improve the environment.'' Within that, there should be some guarantees that the local authority or authorities involved will join that bargain. Retailers could be told, ''Make a contribution and we'll improve the area.'' If, a year later, the council changes its car-parking policy, making life difficult for retailers, puts in one-way systems or introduces a congestion-charging scheme for a central area, that may obviate or offset the benefits of the investment to local business.

As a number of things may have an impact on the centre of a city that one wants to regenerate or improve, if people are voting to contribute additional money for five years to improve the centre of a city, there must be a clear statement of the local authority's strategy and policy for the central area when a proposal is put up. It must be overt about whether it wants to change car-parking policy. I have often found that changes in car-parking charges make a tremendous difference to retailers' ability to undertake their business. Therefore, it would be perverse if, having acquired a majority of local businesses and got people signed up to proposals for improvement, the local authority, under understandable financial constraints, suddenly changed a major part of the business environment in a way that offset the benefits of a BID.

I hope that when the Government draw up guidance, it will ensure that local authorities that will have an impact on the business areas must set out their realistic proposals for the future, so that BID proposals are not offset by other parts of policy and we have joined-up government.

Mr Christopher Leslie (Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office; Shipley, Labour)

New clause 6 would require a billing authority to ensure that ratepayers received all the relevant information needed to make an informed decision, including a method to calculate the amount of their individual levy. Clause 51 empowers the Secretary of State to make regulations concerning the persons who may draw up the BID proposals, the procedures that must be followed when they are drawn up and the matters to be included in them. It renders new clause 6 redundant, because the new clause would allow the Secretary of State to prescribe the information to be given to ratepayers about a BID proposal. That power already exists to a large extent in clause 51(2).

The draft BID guidance that was sent to hon. Members contains information about the requirements to inform ratepayers of the proposals and how to calculate the BID levy. The guidance suggests on page 22 that the BID should give the figure that ratepayers would be expected to pay in addition to their rates and an indication of the way in which it is calculated. On page 23 it says that the BID proposal should also set out the arrangements for publicising the proposals before the vote takes place. In other words, the issue is amply covered in the guidance. Information about the amount that they will pay will go to BID ratepayers before the ballot.

The hon. Member for Cotswold asked how the figure would be calculated and whether it would be too complicated. I do not believe that it is a particularly difficult point, as my hon. Friend the Member for Bedford said. The figure should not be difficult to calculate. It could be a percentage, a flat rate, or any other system. We do not want to be too prescriptive about it, but if businesses were suspicious about the amount that they had to pay, they would be less likely to vote in favour of the proposal.

The hon. Member for New Forest, West asked who would be involved in drawing up the BID proposals.

Anyone can get involved in establishing a BID. The local authority will need to be a partner, because it will be an important stakeholder in the relationship between the business community and the public sector. That touches on the point made by the hon. Member for Poole. BIDs will have to make sure that the local authority is fully engaged. They will clearly have a strong voice in the dialogue with the local authority.

The guidance elaborates on some of those issues when dealing with the possible virtues of the establishment of a BID. There are no absolute constraints on the choices that a local authority can make during the duration of a BID about its normal functions, but clearly it is accountable to its electorate for its decisions on non-BID issues. Questions about car-parking charges and changes involving one way systems will be part of the normal decision-making processes of local authorities, which are democratically accountable to those who elect them. In that sense, there is a constraint on those local authority decisions. I take the point made by the hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton, who said that new clause 6 could be interpreted as slightly over-prescriptive. There is ample coverage in the guidance and the Bill, and I hope that new clause 6 will not be pressed.

Question put and agreed to.

Clause 51 ordered to stand part of the Bill.