Council Tax (New Valuation Lists for England) Bill

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention, because it gives me the opportunity to say again in the House that the Government’s policy is to postpone, not to cancel, the revaluation. The property-based council tax is the basis of the review by Sir Michael Lyons and I referred again to the desirability of reforming the council tax system and the measures that go with it. The important thing to recognise is that the staff and contractors of the Valuation Office Agency have no powers to forcibly inspect a property for council tax valuation purposes. The VOA does not forcibly enter people’s homes—it does not have either the legal power or the desire to do so. For a member of the VOA to take photographs of the inside of a property would be extremely rare and it would only ever be done with the express permission of the householder. In fact, the VOA has clear guidance for its staff about on-site inspections. It expressly states that photographs can be taken only with the permission of the householder, and must not show people, details of security systems, or valuable possessions. The basis on which property is valued for council tax purposes is the same now as it was when the council tax was introduced. The VOA seeks to assign a market value based on the variables that operate in the market. If one property has a scenic view and another overlooks a chemical plant, it is likely that the one with the scenic view will attract a higher relative market value than the one with the view of a chemical plant. There is nothing new or surprising about that. If one property has an attribute that leads to its market value being higher than its next-door neighbour, it is only fair that that should be reflected in its banding. This has always been the case and nothing has changed since 1992. As I mentioned in Committee, the fact that the VOA is capturing property attributes in a database using codes does not indicate some sinister, new, Big Brother database. It is simply the most effective and efficient way of capturing data in a form that can be used by the valuation model to come up with a fair and justifiable valuation, on computers, rather than on paper. That process has previously been done manually by a valuation officer. I recall that estate agents had to be hired quickly to ensure that the council tax could be introduced to replace the unpopular poll tax. The only difference now is that the valuation officers have the benefit of modern technology to support them in their task. I wish to use this opportunity to reassure hon. Members and members of the public—I hope that they have paid attention to the debate or will read the reports of it—that suggestions that people who are unable to pay their council tax will be sent to prison are not true. People who wilfully refuse to pay may be imprisoned under powers that have existed for many years, but that is entirely different to the position of someone who is unable to pay. Nobody has ever been jailed for being unable to pay, nor would they be. Only last weekend, at the very time that winter fuel payments and £200 cheques for pensioner’s council tax rebates were landing on the doormats of millions of pensioner households, there were stories touting a survey about the impact of council tax increases on the elderly. That survey was mentioned by the hon. Member for Christchurch (Mr. Chope)—incidentally, he was the Under-Secretary who introduced the poll tax in the late 1980s—and by its own admission, it excluded council tax benefits and rebates for the elderly. I should say in acknowledging the point made by the hon. Member for Mole Valley that the reports of that survey have led to yet more anxiety among the elderly. The Government have already said that we will use our capping powers against councils with excessive council tax increases and budgets, as we did this year and last year. I give that reassurance to those who may be anxious about council tax. Almost 2.5 million people aged 60 or over now receive council tax benefit, which provides a rebate of up to 100 per cent. of their bills. In addition, £100 was given to households with someone aged 70 or over in 2004–05, to help them with their council tax bills. For 2005–06, households with someone aged 65 or over are receiving £200, which is paid with the winter fuel payments unless they are already entitled to a 100 per cent. council tax rebate.