Council Tax (New Valuation Lists for England) Bill

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. The Bill relates to a national revaluation, and as I have tried to set out, there is an opportunity for a smaller or minor revaluation in appropriate areas. Interestingly, my right hon. Friend the Member for Skipton and Ripon and I are ex-local government Ministers and we have some knowledge of the matter. On Second Reading, I asked the Minister of Communities and Local Government to confirm whether the"““Bill effectively puts revaluation in limbo, and there might be no revaluation in future if there is a rethink on the grant formula””." The Minister, in effect, confirmed that by saying that the Bill was in keeping with a situation where the Government were leaving their options open and that"““all options remain open in the future.””—[Official Report, 7 November 2005; Vol. 439, c. 34.]" So such a revaluation is conceivable. That caused a bit of a flutter in the dovecotes for the right hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich—whom I expected to be here today but he is not—because he felt compelled to back his previous position. The hon. Member for South Ribble (Mr. Borrow), who spoke as an ex-valuer, probably felt a little like a turkey at this time of the year—if not more frequently. Valuation for council tax is different from valuation for rates and business rates in that it essentially serves two purposes. First, it serves a role in the funding formula, as it is used to give an estimate of the ability to pay. As I said on Second Reading, that could be done in different ways. Secondly, it is used to rank properties in valuation bands, thus enabling a billing authority to distribute its council tax charge. As long as that proportion of spread remains the same—generally, that seems to be so—there is no need for a revaluation, especially an expensive national revaluation. However, one can foresee occasions where a national revaluation may not be needed at all for some considerable time but a small local revaluation might be appropriate. The example that most readily comes to mind is that the Government are following previous Conservative Governments in pushing for redevelopment on brownfield land—in particular, the Thames Gateway. It is well known that the Deputy Prime Minister wants to cover sections of the Thames Gateway with large numbers of new—