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Business Rate Supplements Bill
9:45 am
Bob Neill (Shadow Minister, Communities and Local Government; Bromley and Chislehurst, Conservative)
Perhaps the Minister can help us with an issue regarding paragraph 3(2), and in particular 3(2)(a), on refunds and credits. I understand the concept behind the regulations, but this measure gives a permissive power for the regulations to provide, in effect, for a refund to the billing authorities. I do not have a problem with that, but I notice that the refund is referred to as being
“in equal proportions to each billing authority”.
I take it that that means exactly what it says, but is that always the fairest means of carrying out the refund?
Might it not be appropriate to consider a refund that does not involve equal shares across the board, but which is in proportion to the contribution that has been made by each billing authority? Let us say that there are five billing authorities in a BRS scheme. Depending on how the BID is constructed, some of the billing authorities may have put more into the pot than others. However, as I read the regulations, the refund would be split to give them each a fifth of any refund. However, one of those five authorities might have contributed 30 per cent. and another 40 per cent. of the revenue from businesses in their area, with the others contributing rather less. Should not provision for that be reflected in the regulations? Perhaps the same consideration ought to be given where a BRS covers more than one top-tier authority area. The aim is to have the extra flexibility needed to provide the just result in such cases.