Business Rate Supplements Bill

I am grateful to noble Lords for their comments, to which I shall refer in turn. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, for her observations on the amendment. Perhaps I should have explained it at the beginning in fairly simple terms. If the project that was the subject of the supplement was aimed at reducing the business rates in a given area, it would work in the same way by paying money into a fund that could then be used to reduce the overall tax rate in that area. Given that business rates, to which we will come later, are often the third greatest cost that many businesses face, that could be attractive. Under previous Governments—I am not sure whether this happened when my distinguished noble friend Lord Jenkin of Roding was at the former Department of the Environment—we introduced the concept of areas, such as development areas and enterprise zones, which were free from business rates. They did tremendous good by drawing people in, because business rates were a major barrier to investment. They are again reaching a high level at this difficult time. Offering a discount might be more successful in attracting business to a locality than trying to entice it with a new road or new infrastructure. We would very much like to see such a measure. I am grateful to the Minister for her comments on the measure’s wording. I am interested in the extensive discussions that she mentioned had been held with the CBI, the British Retail Consortium and the British Chambers of Commerce. However, she also mentioned that a lack of appetite appeared to be shown. Was that lack of appetite shown by the business organisations—that seems strange given what a burden they consider this issue is and the lobbying that we have received from those organisations on it—or was it on the part of Ministers? My noble friend Lord Cathcart asked about the system of refunds. The Minister said that it was not on the face of the Bill. If the levying power and the levying structure are on the face of the Bill, perhaps the refund system ought to be there, too. I hope that the Minister will reflect on that. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 1 withdrawn.