My Lords, I beg to move that this House do agree with the Commons in their amendments 27 to 29 en bloc. I shall speak also to the other amendments in this group.
These amendments would provide advance certainty to local government over timings, so they can be confident that any delay in Parliament will not impact on their budget-setting timetable.
Commons Amendments 27, 37, 39 and 40 provide that if the Bill is passed by 5 February, the likely date by which the referendum principles for 2014-15 must
be laid before Parliament, the clause takes effect immediately. If not, the changes would take effect by order and relate to the financial year 2015-16. Commons Amendment 29 gives detail of the changes required if the clause was to be commenced by order and relate to 2015-16. This includes amending transitional provisions to ensure that council tax comparisons could be made on a like-for-like basis between 2014-15 and 2015-16.
Commons Amendment 28 is a minor amendment to clarify that the current clause does not reduce the existing discretion of the Secretary of State when determining categories of authority for 2014-15.
These amendments were proposed at Report in the other place as a precautionary measure to remove a risk that local authority budgeting could be adversely impacted in the event of any delay to the Bill. The Bill has not been delayed to date and, subject to the decisions of your Lordships’ House today, is on track to reach Royal Assent well before local authorities begin setting their budgets. If this remains the case, barring the minor clarification of Amendment 28, this group of amendments would not alter the operation of the clause from the version first introduced into this House.
With this explanation, I hope noble Lords will see fit to accept the amendments.