Clause 17
Business Rate Supplements Bill
9:30 am
John Healey (Minister of State (Local Government), Department for Communities and Local Government; Wentworth, Labour)
This is a fairly straightforward clause. It enables us as a Government to set some practical arrangements on how levying authorities should deal with a business rate supplement in relation to properties jointly owned or occupied. It also allows them to make arrangements in cases where the person who is liable for the business rate supplement has died. The provisions will be technical in nature; they will mirror powers that already exist in relation to non-domestic rates; they are designed to ensure that it is clear where the liability for BRS falls in very specific circumstances. I think it therefore appropriate to deal with this in secondary legislation. The clause gives us the power to make those regulations, and I can reassure the Committee that no provisions made under them will affect the level of the liability due in respect of a property.