Business Rate Supplements Bill

Let me start by apologising if noble Lords did not receive hard copies. I was very glad that we were able to get it out in the time that we suggested we would on the Wednesday by e-mail, but I will certainly look into that. This has been an extremely helpful debate. It is very good to have all those ideas on the record for future reference, not least for local authorities, levying authorities and businesses as they come to draw up their prospectuses. I completely understand and absolutely share the motivation behind the amendment. Much of what the noble Baroness said appeals to me. Clearly, we want to be absolutely sure that copies of the prospectus are going to be readily available for the people who are liable to pay the supplement. I take the point that the noble Lord, Lord Bates, made about how busy the business community are. However, I have to endorse much of what my noble friend said in the other place, because it runs through the Bill. We are trying not to over-prescribe. We are trying to signal to local authorities that they are free to go further than the minimum standards that we are laying down in the Bill. We are often berated for being too top-heavy in relation to local authorities. This is one instance in which we are very conscious that local authorities are going to have to do things their own way. For example, we are leaving it to authorities to decide how best to conduct the consultation that they must carry out with those who are potentially liable for the supplement. Clearly, these projects are going to differ in size and scope and it is going to depend on what existing networks there are and what technologies are commonly used and so on. In the same vein, let me reassure the noble Baroness that we are leaving it to authorities to decide how to design their prospectus, but Schedule 1, for example, requires them to include cost-benefit information. I am very happy to put on the record that there is nothing to stop any local authority setting out an executive summary or a freestanding summary. It definitely must be in jargon-free language. It is extremely important that people know what they can expect from their contributions. Levying authorities can choose to send a summary to every business in their area. On Amendment 21, for example, hard copies of the prospectus must be made available at the levying authority’s principal office. As the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, rightly said, they have to be able to make the maximum use of the speediest and most relevant technology these days. We are requiring levying authorities to make electronic copies of the prospectus available on the website. There is no reason on earth why they should not make the summary available on the website in the same form. When we come to look at where this information is going to end up, again authorities are going to want to make sure that its location is clearly signposted so that those with an interest can access it, but they can go further if they choose to make further copies available in billing authority offices or local libraries or other resource centres. That is absolutely fine. We would welcome and encourage the maximum spread of this sort of information for the local community and we definitely agree on the point about reasonable times and reasonable periods. We actively encourage authorities that think this is the best approach for their area and their project to use all the vehicles that they have available to them, but I do believe that we should not put unnecessary detail in Bill. We should not tell authorities how to do things. I have stood here more often than I care to remember being asked, "Why does the Minister not trust local authorities?". I do trust local authorities to do the right thing in their area. It is proper that minimum standards are put in place, but I also think that they have to decide what is best and what communication will be most effective and most persuasive. In the light of this debate, it is important that we spend some time on the guidance and make sure that it reflects the breadth and scope of what might be possible so that we pick up some of these ideas and reflect them in guidance. I hope that the noble Baroness will be satisfied with that.