| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
19 Feb 2007 : Column 554W—continued
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to the answer of 29 November 2006, Official Report, columns 716-17W, on the Valuation and Lands Agency, what the average capital value was of the average domestic property in each of the 25 market areas calculated as part of the rates revaluation. [119699]
Mr. Hanson: The Valuation and Lands Agency calculated the average capital value of all domestic properties in each of the 25 market areas and this information is given in the following table.
VLA does not hold similar information by “average domestic property”.
| Market Area | Average capital value (£) |
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what meetings the Valuation and Lands Agency had with representatives of Scottish Assessors in the last 24 months. [119785]
Mr. Hanson: The Valuation and Lands Agency and the Scottish Assessors are represented on the steering group on Harmonisation (Practice and Procedure) England/Wales/Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which meets twice a year; representatives of the Agency and Scottish Assessors have met only in that context.
Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the Valuation and Lands Agency's technical definition is of an estate code. [119974]
Mr. Hanson: The Valuation and Lands Agency's technical definition of an estate code is a grouping of streets that contain a similar age/type of housing and/or group housing built as part of a unified development and/or defines a specific sub-neighbourhood location.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether representatives of the Valuation and Lands Agency will be attending the Integrating Geographical Information System and Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal Conference in Las Vegas in March 2007. [120770]
Mr. Hanson: The Valuation and Lands Agency have currently no plans for representatives to attend this conference.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland for how long the Valuation and Lands Agency has published an in-house staff magazine; what the frequency of publication is; and what the cost of the publication was in each year since its inception. [120786]
Mr. Hanson: The Valuation and Lands Agency did not publish an in-house magazine but issued an occasional single page news-sheet to all staff by e-mail between 2000 and spring 2006. There were therefore no publication costs. Since late 2006 this function has been absorbed into the Rate Collection Agency staff magazine at nil additional cost.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many domestic properties in Northern Ireland have photographs allocated to their property record by the Valuation and Lands Agency as part of their domestic rates valuation records. [120787]
Mr. Hanson: To date some 64,000 domestic properties in Northern Ireland have photographs allocated to their property record by the Valuation and Lands Agency as part of their domestic rates valuation records.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what use the Valuation and Lands Agency makes of automated valuation techniques with regard to each of the taxes which it has a statutory responsibility for valuing. [120793]
Mr. Hanson: The Valuation and Lands Agency has statutory responsibility for valuing for rating taxation purposes only.
It uses Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal (CAMA) techniques to provide first-pass capital valuations for the majority of domestic properties. Automated valuation models (AVMs) are used to provide first-pass valuations for the “bulk” classes of non-domestic properties—such as shops, offices, factories, stores and workshops.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much funding the Valuation and Lands Agency has provided to (a) the University of Ulster, (b) Mineit and (c) Lumio for the development of mass appraisal software or techniques since 1997. [120828]
Mr. Hanson: The Valuation and Lands Agency paid a total of £20,000 to Mineit in respect of the development of prototype mass appraisal software during 2000-02.
The Valuation and Lands Agency has not made any payments to the University of Ulster or to Lumio in relation to the development of mass appraisal software or techniques.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether the Valuation and Lands Agency operates an incentive scheme for staff for (a) domestic rate valuations, (b) non-domestic rate valuations and (c) meeting other targets. [120829]
Mr. Hanson: The Valuation and Lands Agency does not operate any incentive scheme for staff for (a) domestic rate valuations; (b) non-domestic rate valuations nor with regard to (c) meeting other targets.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what meetings the Valuation and Lands Agency has had with the Republic of Ireland Valuation Office in the last 24 months. [120831]
Mr. Hanson:
The Valuation and Lands Agency and the Republic of Ireland Valuation Office are represented on the Steering Group on Harmonisation (Practice and Procedure) England/Wales/Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, which
meets twice a year. In addition, the Valuation and Lands Agency and the Republic of Ireland Valuation Office have met on two separate occasions within the last 24 months.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland by what criteria the neighbourhood geo-codes in Northern Ireland were drawn up by the Valuation and Lands Agency. [120832]
Mr. Hanson: The neighbourhood boundaries were drawn up by the Valuation and Lands Agency on the basis of common property market influences operating in a uniform manner within these boundaries. These influences included housing types, road and rail links, natural physical features, proximity to schools and health centres and access to local services and facilities.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the estimated yearly cost to the Valuation and Lands Agency is of maintaining the domestic property valuation list under the new capital values system; and what the yearly cost of maintenance was under the rental values system. [120833]
Mr. Hanson: The cost of maintaining the domestic property valuation list under the rental values system was, for the most recent three years for which figures are available, as follows:
| £ | |
There are as yet no forward year estimates of the cost of maintaining the domestic valuation list under the new capital value system.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland by what means the Valuation and Lands Agency assessed whether a domestic property has (a) central heating and (b) an outbuilding in the recent revaluation. [120843]
Mr. Hanson: The Valuation and Lands Agency referred to the data held on their electronic database to determine whether a domestic property has central heating or outbuilding for the purposes of the recent revaluation.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what targets have been set for the Valuation and Lands Agency. [120844]
Mr. Hanson: In my letter of 20 January 2007 to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, I advised that the Valuation and Lands Agency and the Rate Collection Agency will be dissolved on 31 March 2007 and amalgamated to form the Land and Property Services Agency from 1 April 2007.
Targets for the new Land and Property Services Agency are under discussion with the Department of Finance and Personnel and will be formalised, agreed and notified to Parliament using the normal process on or about 1 April 2007.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether the Valuation and Lands Agency has purchased (a) Mosaic datasets and (b) ACORN datasets. [120845]
Mr. Hanson: The Valuation and Lands Agency has not purchased any Mosaic or ACORN datasets.
| Index | Home Page |