Clause 24
Business Rate Supplements Bill
10:00 am
Dan Rogerson (North Cornwall, Liberal Democrat)
Much earlier today, reference was rightly made to the elegance of the solution proposed by the right hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich. I am sure the amendments that stand in my name are not as elegant and perhaps do not do exactly what I intend them to. However, I am grateful for the opportunity to have this debate and I am sure the Minister will clarify what the intention is. I am very much building on what the hon. Member for Northampton, South said about reassuring people that if a project does not go ahead, the money will be refunded.
I have been looking at my own amendment, wondering whether it is actually about money going back to the bill payers; it is certainly about money going back to the billing authority and that is the intention. Earlier, a circumstance was described relating to an underspend on a project. Previously, it was suggested that overspends are far more likely, but there is the possibility of an underspend, which everybody would welcome. In that event, there is an opportunity for that money to be passed back to its source and for it to be refunded to the bill payers. Similarly, my amendment refers to a situation where the Secretary of State or the relevant authority in Wales needs, for some reason, to intervene to cancel the imposition of a BRS, the scheme does not go ahead, and the money has to be refunded.
There is a provision in the Bill to allow that at present, but my amendment would strengthen it to ensure that the money does go back. I am not quite sure what would happen to the money if it was not returned. I assume that there are restrictions on its being used for any other purpose, so I suppose it would sit in an account. Whether interest on that account could be used for other reasons is another question, but the amendment aims to clarify and strengthen the principle that if, for whatever reason, the scheme needs to be cancelled and the money is not used for the purpose for which it was originally intended, it will find its way back to those who paid it in the first place.