My Lords, this amendment was retabled before we had the opportunity to meet representatives of the Valuation Office Agency. I thank the Minister for organising that meeting, representatives of the VOA who turned up and engaged with us, and other noble Lords who attended.
Frankly, however, the meeting did not move us much further forward except to the extent that it reinforced our concerns about the composition of the data relating to the revaluation deferral. When we debated this in Committee, the Minister was reassuring on the figures, saying:
“The agency believes that 800,000 ratepayers may face increases, compared to only 300,000 seeing reductions. The Valuation Office Agency provides pretty detailed and good valuations”.—[Official Report, 4/2/13; col. 124.]
One thing we know is that the information is not detailed. The VOA report and our meeting yesterday confirm that the analysis is “high level”, is based on limited rental data, was not a projection of the valuation on which a 2015 revaluation would be based—2013—and has not been subjected to the rigour of moderation and validation. Moreover, the categorisation “en bloc” of the “other” category of hereditaments as properties that would see a tax rise we consider to be flawed. This undermines the very basis of the claim that 800,000 ratepayers may face tax increases from a revaluation and only 300,000 a reduction.
We accept that, on the basis of the information available to the VOA, it may not have been possible to do a detailed disaggregation, but that is no excuse for making sweeping categorisations and drawing broad conclusions therefrom. The Government espouse the benefits of stability for business by deferral of the revaluation, but this would have had much greater credibility had it been supported by a prior, robust consultation. At least those who might have anticipated a business rate reduction could have had their voices heard.
Meetings with those affected once the decision has been taken are all very well, but they are no substitute for proper consultation. There is nowhere we can go with this amendment from where we are, but I am bound to say that it smacks of bad policy-making, no prior consultation and insufficient data to support the policy. It is a curious policy anyway that prays in aid of the Government’s own failure—the lack of growth in our economy and the upheaval that this is bringing to business—to justify this departure from what has been a consensus approach to this aspect of local government finance for more than 20 years. I beg to move.