Business Rate Supplements Bill

It may be because of the stage that we have reached in Committee that I am slow on the uptake, but I posed a specific question and I am not sure that the answer that the levying authority can end a scheme early answered that question. Let me phrase it again. For example, if a retail premises with a rateable value of £1 million—it is a substantial business—is currently paying a major business rate supplement contribution to the order of £20,000 and falls into financial difficulty, with whom does the liability rest? Is it with the levying authority? What would happen with the scheme if that £20,000 was the difference between some of the improvements going ahead and not going ahead? How would that be handled? Could any compensation be forthcoming from the Secretary of State to compensate for that? My final question is whether in the business plan and prospectus which are put forward for any scheme, it would be advisable to introduce some contingency or reserve so that, in such circumstances, the costings would be there to finish the project, even if one or two of the major contributors were no longer there.