Business Rate Supplements Bill

Perhaps I may deal with the offset first and Amendments 51, 53 and 54. Linked to that is Amendment 55A, which relates to Crossrail. Amendment 52 has a different focus. It would leave the decision whether to have an offset to the levying authority, but proposes, as the noble Baroness has just said, that it first be required to consult those liable for the BID levy and the relevant billing authority. Amendment 55 probes the definition of "consistently", which I hope that I shall have an answer to by the time I come to the end of my speaking note. I have listened carefully to the arguments. The concerns expressed have been raised not only today but also in the other place. One very clear message that has emerged from these debates, which I hope that the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, takes as much pleasure from as I do, is that BIDs have been a great success and are a popular initiative. We are determined that they should continue to grow alongside BRS. I should explain why I, like the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, do not think that an automatic offset is the right way forward and why it cuts across the whole thrust of the Bill, which is to devolve the key decisions to local partners and not impose on them. I do not think that I need to rehearse the difference between the BRS and the BID, because I think that noble Lords are very familiar with the scale, the scope and the set of objectives. As we all now know, the Bill provides an opportunity for local authorities to work together to develop proposals that will enhance economic development. Authorities will have the flexibility to decide how the levy should be set, subject to the overall limit of 2p in the pound of rateable value. They can decide whether to offer more generous safeguards to businesses. They can, for example, set the threshold for liability above the £50,000 threshold. They can decide, as we have just debated, to exclude empty properties. Against that background, it is therefore absolutely right and consistent that we should leave the decision about a potential offset for those paying BID levies to the local levying authority. Amendment 55A provides that the GLA would not be required to offset BID liabilities against BRS liabilities for its Crossrail BRS partners. The choice will be there for them, to be worked out in negotiation with local partners, bearing in mind the full set of local factors. I recognise and understand that there are strong and persuasive calls for an automatic offset. There are equally strong calls, such as that from the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee. I give the noble Lord two arguments, not from the Government but from groups that are deeply involved in these situations, such as the South Bank Employers Group. It is an association of major organisations on the South Bank in the Waterloo and Blackfriars areas which helps to deliver a BID-type benefit for their local area through an alternative but voluntary BID levy. It considers that having an automatic offset for BID payers would be unfair. It said: ""The fact that businesses have chosen to contribute to this fund of local additionality … should not in any way relieve them of the obligation to contribute to a major pan-London project like Crossrail"." It points out that this means that businesses that are not in BIDs, for whatever reason, would not benefit from an offset for BRS because of factors outside their control. The group argues: ""This would be seriously unfair on major businesses which are not in BID areas, whether because they have voted against the BID proposals or because a BID proposal has not come forward, or because the area is not seen as suitable for a BID"." There speak the employers. The chief executive of British BIDs, Dr Julie Grail, said that, ""a full offset in London would be a ridiculous and dangerous move and would give an open door to every business community in London to go and get itself a cheaper business rate supplement".––[Official Report, Commons, Business Rate Supplements Public Bill Committee, 20/1/09; col. 47.]"