My Lords, I thank the Minister for introducing these regulations. As the Minister said, they are quite complex. Holding concepts such as business rates base line, base line funding levels and retained rates income in one’s mind is a challenge—certainly for me—as one goes through the detail, but I think I understand the thrust of what is before us.
Clearly, we support a safety net system, but as we argued during the passage of the primary legislation, we would wish to see the threshold at a level higher than 92.5%. Just as the noble Lord raised the example of the dire consequences of particular closures on the finances of a local authority, we argued when the primary legislation was being considered that, when a local authority is faced with the prospect of the major regeneration of an area, there ought to be arrangements in place so that it would of its own volition see a significant drop in its business rate base for the specific purpose of regenerating an area, and hopefully building a much bigger rate base in the future. I do not think that those circumstances are specifically catered for here. We also anticipated the problem that a local authority might cope with a 7.5% fall for one year, but there is no additional relief should that recur year on year. This may not happen in many circumstances, but the cumulative effect is not catered for here.
What is the overall estimate of levy amounts and safety net payments to be collected next year? I think the noble Lord said that tariffs and top-ups will sum to zero, but for the provisions that are before us—the safety net and the levy—what are the separate estimates of those two amounts for next year?
I have one or two other specific questions. On the safety net, why is the schedule of payments cast in the way that it is under the regulations and what is wrong with a Friday? Apparently, when a payment falls due on a Friday, one is not permitted to send or receive it; one has to wait until the next business day. I am not quite sure why that is. Can the Minister expand a little on the types of adjustment that flow from paragraph 1(4) of Schedule 1—for example, the effect of adjustments made for amateur sports clubs and the circumstances in which deductions are permitted or not? What are the criteria that separate the different categories of arrangements? Subject to those points, I have no further issues to raise.