Business Rate Supplements Bill

Local authorities and business together will have to show in their partnership document, the prospectus, what they anticipate the total cost of the project will be. If it becomes clear at some stage that the cost has been underestimated or overestimated, they will have to have a way of dealing with those contingencies that is expressed in the original prospectus. They will have to show that they have anticipated some contingency if things do not work out quite as expected. The noble Earl asked about refunds. I am afraid that I do not have an answer, and I suspect that we will not find one in the Bill or the guidance, but I will write to noble Lords with a little more detail. On the ballot, if it turns out that there has been a gross misrepresentation—an underestimate or whatever—the prospectus would have to be re-presented, and there may have to be arrangements for a ballot at some point. I am not entirely certain that I have got that precisely right, but I will write to the noble Earl.