Council Tax (New Valuation Lists for England) Bill

moved Amendment No. 6:"Page 1, line 17, at end insert—" ““(   )   In subsection (11), for ““the House of Commons”” substitute ““each House””.”” The noble Lord said: Amendment No. 6 would compel the future orders made by the Secretary of State under Section 22B to be subject to affirmative resolution by both Houses of Parliament. As the Bill stands, such future legislation would take place only on the Floor of the other place. However, as we have already discussed in some detail, the Bill gives considerable powers to the Secretary of State to decide on future legislation, including the timing and regularity of any future revaluation processes. We have considerable doubts over the consideration of revaluation being undertaken by the Secretary of State. We have had an earlier amendment about that, and there was an amendment from the Liberal Democrats on other ways of doing it. There is a lot of unease about the process. However, given the impact of future revaluation on the council tax payer and the cost to the Exchequer, we believe that such decisions must have the support of both Houses, together with the requisite form of proper scrutiny processes. I beg to move.