Our amendments are precautionary measures to remove the risk of local authority budgeting being adversely impacted in the event of a delay to the Bill taking effect. Clause 41 currently provides that the council tax referendum calculations will take account of levies from 1 April 2014. The referendum principles, which we intend to publish in draft very shortly, will be put to this House for approval in February as normal. Those principles will take account of levies, but will be subject to the will of Parliament and the Bill, which will have come into force by then.
The amendments have a relatively simple effect. Together, amendments 6, 9, 10 and 11 provide that if the Bill is passed by 5 February—the likely date by which the referendum principles must be laid before Parliament—the provisions in clause 41 will take effect immediately and the changes to the referendum provisions will take effect for the 2014-15 financial year. Otherwise, the changes will take effect by order from 2015-16. There is no reason to believe that the provisions will not be in force before the referendum principles are approved, but we are tabling this group of amendments to give local authorities advance certainty over timings so that they can be confident that any delay in Parliament would not impact on their budget-setting timetable.
Amendment 7 is a minor amendment clarifying that the clause does not alter the existing discretion of the Secretary of State when determining categories of authority for 2014-15. Amendment 8 addresses the ability of the Secretary of State to determine categories of local authorities on the basis of whether their 2013-14 council tax increase would have been excessive had levies been taken into account. The clause puts this existing ability beyond question and does not extend it further. Similarly, the amendment does not extend that existing ability, but updates the references to increases in 2013-14 to include references to increases in 2014-15, should the provisions take effect from 2015-16. The current transitional provisions in subsections (14) to (16) ensure that council tax comparisons between 2013-14 and 2014-15 are made on a like-for-like basis. An amendment must be made to ensure that this protection for authorities still exists if levies are to be included from 2015-16. Subsections (18) to (20) in amendment 8 provide that protection.
In summary, these amendments are precautionary measures only and, apart from clarifications and restatements of existing legislation, have one purpose:
to ensure that in the event of any unpredicted delay, local authorities will continue to be treated consistently and to benefit from the transitional protections already in the clause.