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Donate to our crowdfunderBaroness Farrington of Ribbleton: My Lords, before we move to the Statement on political progress in Northern Ireland, I take the opportunity to remind the House that the Companion indicates that discussion on the Statement should be confined to very brief comments and questions for clarification. Noble Lords who speak at length do so at the expense of others.
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: My Lords, I beg to introduce a Bill to make provision with respect to the functions and procedures of local authorities and provision with respect to local authority elections; to make provision with respect to grants and housing benefit in respect of certain welfare services; and for connected purposes. I beg to move that this Bill be now read a first time. Moved, That the Bill be now read a...
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: My Lords, with the leave of the House, I should like to repeat a Statement made in the other place. The Statement is as follows: "With permission, Madam Speaker, I should like to make a statement about local authority revenue finance for England for the year 2000-2001. "Local councils across the country deliver services which strengthen our communities and are vital to our future economic...
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: My Lords, my noble friend is a new Member of the House. The procedure is that I reply to the points raised by the Opposition Front Bench and the Liberal Democrat Front Bench. Then we move to the next stage. For me, too, it is a surprise and pleasure to face the noble Lord, Lord Dixon-Smith, across the Dispatch Box. With the change of government and change of role, it is sometimes slightly...
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: My Lords, the noble Baroness is right. As regards the council tax benefit limitation, we listened carefully in our consultation with the Local Government Association and the Association for London Government. No authority has its benefit limited by greater than the average, so those authorities that have the greatest concentrations are affected only to the extent of the average. The noble...
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: My Lords, 5 per cent is the cap set on increases in bills for smaller properties. The cap for larger properties will be higher. The increase in the distributable amount from £13.6 billion to £15.4 billion is not surprising in the first year of the new rating period. Among other things, an adjustment must be made to allow for anticipated losses on appeal. The amount of rates paid nationally...
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: My Lords, I thank my noble friend whose great experience in the field of local government will be of benefit to the House in discussing local government matters.
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: My Lords, the noble and learned Lord puts me on a pedestal from which I can be knocked with swiftness and ease by many Members of your Lordships' House. He is correct in his recollection of the recommendations of the Layfield Committee. However, my recollection, which may not be as accurate or detailed as his, is that local income tax faced problems arising from the fact that many of our...
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: My Lords, I am sure that the noble Baroness will be forgiven by the House, not least because she brings to the House very relevant knowledge of the issues facing police authorities at present. The noble Baroness is right. Over the three-year period there will be an increase of 3 per cent. And there is an increase in real terms in the police authority budgets. I am sure that the increase of 3...
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: My Lords, with your Lordships' permission, exceptionally, perhaps I may join with others in wishing my noble friend Lord Longford well in his 95th year.
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: rose to move, That the draft regulations laid before the House on 25th November be approved [2nd Report from the Joint Committee].
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: My Lords, I beg to move the first Motion standing in the name of my noble friend Lord Whitty. Your Lordships have before you today changes that the Government propose to make to packing regulations. These changes complete the review of the regulations, although we are keeping under review the recovery and recycling targets for 2001 so that we can assess what these should be in the light of...
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: My Lords, I can assure the noble Baroness. I apologise. Did the noble Earl wish to speak?
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: My Lords, the only specific question following from the knowledgeable comments of the noble Baroness related to the concern to ensure that the infrastructure is in place. I can assure her that we shall continue to work closely with industry and with local government to ensure that our targets which are mandatory can be met.
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: rose to move, That the draft regulations laid before the House on 25th November be approved [2nd Report from the Joint Committee].
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: My Lords, I beg to move the second Motion standing in the name of my noble friend Lord Whitty. On 1st April 2000 there will be a general revaluation of all non-domestic property. These regulations will phase in the impact of the revaluation on individual ratepayers through a transitional relief scheme. Under the Local Government Finance Act 1988 revaluations must be carried out every five...
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: My Lords, we have given careful consideration to the responses to Improving Rights of Way in England and Wales, including the noble Baroness's proposal that we should distinguish between the rights of horse-drawn vehicles and those of motorised vehicles when using different classes of highway. We shall take those points into account when we introduce new legislation soon.
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: My Lords, I am deeply sorry to have disappointed the noble Baroness, Lady Trumpington. I should have liked to have been in a position, when wishing her a happy new year, to be able to respond to her Question in the manner she wished. Given her great experience of this position at the Dispatch Box, the noble Baroness will be aware that parliamentary privilege prohibits detailed revelation of...
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: My Lords, the Question tabled by the noble Baroness relates to a consultation document issued by the Government. Further, the noble Baroness was certainly not alone in pointing out that the legislation did not seek to make distinctions on this point. We are dealing here with rights of way over which motorised vehicles are rightly prohibited. When the legislation is produced I hope to be in a...
Baroness Farrington of Ribbleton: My Lords, the noble Countess, Lady Mar, is right to draw attention to the fact that wheeled traffic may cause damage, and that the traffic we are considering here should be allowed only where it does not damage the carriageway. However, I am of course aware that horse-drawn vehicles can benefit people living nearby who wish to grow roses.