Council Tax (New Valuation Lists for England) Bill

I think that the hon. Gentleman may be referring to the statement of 20 September, which was repeated before the House on 10 October. If he read on, he would see that we expect the Government to come forward with their views during the completion of the comprehensive spending review in the summer of 2007. As I said, that was made clear on 20 September. Although this is a short Bill, it may help the House if I explain its effects. First, it removes the requirement laid down by the Local Government Finance Act 1992 for the compilation of new lists on 1 April 2007. Clause 1(3) amends section 22B of the 1992 Act by removing the duty on the listing agency—in practice, that means the Valuation Office Agency—to compile a new valuation list to billing authorities in England on 1 April 2007 and a draft of that list to be completed by 1 September next year. We have already informed the House that the VOA has stopped work on the revaluation of domestic properties in England to prevent nugatory expenditure—and the provision formalises that position. Secondly, subsection (4) removes the requirement for subsequent revaluations on the 10th anniversary of the previous one, unless an earlier date has been specified by order. Until the Government have received and considered Sir Michael Lyons’ final report, we cannot take a view on how frequently revaluation should occur and we therefore think it right that we should not be statutorily committed to revaluing on a rigid, predetermined cycle.