Clause 5
Business Rate Supplements Bill
12:45 pm
Sadiq Khan (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Community Cohension and Fire and Rescue Service), Department for Communities and Local Government; Tooting, Labour)
The hon. Member for North Cornwall introduced his amendment by saying that it was a minor one, but it is not, for three principal reasons: first, because it gives me the opportunity to welcome you, Mr. Atkinson, and to say what a pleasure it is to serve under your chairmanship; secondly, because it allows me to make my maiden voyage in my new role, which it is a pleasure to have; and thirdly because it gives me the chance to introduce a series of clauses that set out in more detail some of the requirements contained in clause 4, which we have not yet had a chance to discuss.
Amendment No. 8 would require hard copies of the prospectus to be made available at the principal offices of the billing authority as well as the authority proposed in the supplement. We are keen to ensure that prospectuses are easily accessible during the consultation, which is why we have required hard copies to be made available at the principal offices of the levying authority and why electronic copies will need to be available on that authority’s website. I accept the need for accessibility, but that need should be balanced with the additional costs that we expect authorities to meet when proposing a supplement. Authorities will not be able to recoup the costs of producing and publishing a prospectus through the BRS—not that anyone is suggesting that they should. We need to show some restraint, therefore, in the requirements that we place on authorities.
Nothing is preventing a good local authority, especially in a rural part of the country, from doing the very sensible things suggested by the hon. Members for North Cornwall and for Northampton, South. The latter made a very good point: we must not all assume that everyone is computer literate and has access to the web. We expect local authorities to take note of their points. They know their areas better than we in Whitehall do. Committee members, whichever side of the Committee they sit, do not want us in Whitehall to impose burdens on local authorities when elected councillors know their communities far better than we do.
We are trying to set out an approach that strikes the right balance to ensure that prospectuses are widely available while keeping costs minimal. Requiring billing authorities to make copies of the prospectus available at the principal offices, which the amendment would do, would increase costs and be prescriptive, but would not necessarily result in a significant improvement in availability. Making copies available in the principal offices of the lower-tier authorities could lead to confusion for ratepayers, who might not realise that the upper-tier authority—the levying authority—is responsible for the project. That is a big concern for the Committee. For that reason, I urge the hon. Gentleman to withdraw his amendment, which is by no means a minor one.