Local Government Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 9:00 pm on 16 July 2003.

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Photo of Baroness Byford Baroness Byford Conservative 9:00, 16 July 2003

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for his response. Indeed, I want to record my thanks to him from the time when I first took on this brief. He held a similar brief in another place and I have always been grateful to him for the help and assistance that he gave then. He will remember that days spent in opposition are not the easiest.

With regard to businesses which come together and form working co-operatives, since the Minister's time at the helm in another place things have moved on and we are grateful for that. I believe that noble Lords on all sides will welcome this move. I shall shortly be going to Kent to visit a group of people in the soft fruit industry. They are doing a very good job but they certainly would not qualify for this scheme because, together, they have become a large business. I am not talking about "big business", as the noble Lord might recognise. I would like to see those businesses take maximum advantage of the scheme. However, as I said, the difficulty is that in some cases it is down to the local authority to interpret whether a business qualifies.

Unfortunately, my papers which are relevant to this matter are upstairs, and tonight is not the moment to go into individual cases. However, it may be helpful to the noble Lord if I send him a copy of them. They may give him a slightly better understanding of why businesses are considered and helped in some cases but not in others. That is really down to local authorities. In putting forward these amendments, I was trying to instil a little uniformity without becoming too rigid. Perhaps I have not picked quite the right wording which would be suitable for tonight. I have looked at the rate relief Act 2001 and realise that it is time limited. I am grateful to hear that that might be extended. However, as the noble Lord said, that will depend on circumstances at the time.

I am grateful that the noble Lord realises that I am trying to prime new businesses to get them off the ground and not trying to pull favours for others who have got beyond that point and are well able to stand on their own feet. We all realise that things have been difficult out in the rural communities. However, in some ways it is an exciting time. Many of our new small businesses are rural. The help that has been made available to them has been of great value and those businesses, in turn, employ others.

I thank the Minister for his response. I shall certainly let him have the relevant paperwork to try to highlight the difficulties that are seen, particularly by the National Farm Attractions Network because there is a real practical problem out there. However, at this stage I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.