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10 Jan 2008 : Column 772W—continued
The small business multiplier is used to calculate the rate liability for those non-domestic properties in receipt of small business rate relief. For all other properties, the national non-domestic multiplier is used. At revaluations, the multipliers are adjusted to take account of changes in valuations.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which property attributes will form part of the Valuation Office Agency's multiple regression analysis in its proposed Automated Valuation Model for business rates. [176595]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 17 December 2007, Official Report, column 1154W.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the rateable value of a business premises changes between statutory revaluations if there is a material change to the property. [176606]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 17 December 2007, Official Report, column 1154W.
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the rateable value of a business premises is re-assessed when it is (a) sold and (b) rented to a different body outside statutory revaluations. [176607]
John Healey: There is no automatic requirement for non-domestic properties to be revalued following a change in ownership or occupation. However, the rateable value of a property may be reassessed following a proposal to the valuation officer to have the value altered. Valuation officers may also alter the rateable value of non-domestic properties as part of their duty to maintain the rating lists.
Non-Domestic Rates: Fines
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which public authority retains the revenue from civic penalty notices issued for failure to provide information requested for non-domestic rating purposes; and what the average size of the penalty payment is. [176749]
John Healey: Any sums received from civil penalty notices issued for failure to provide information requested by a valuation officer for non-domestic rating purposes must be paid into the Consolidated Fund.
The average penalty payment from 1 April 2005 to 31 December 2007 was £311.
Non-Domestic Rates: Tax Allowances
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans she has to review business rate relief for (a) previously developed and (b) derelict land. [176563]
John Healey: Where previously developed or derelict land constitutes a hereditament for the purposes of non-domestic rates, the ratepayer may be entitled to relief under the existing arrangements. As stated in the White Paper Business rate supplements, published in October 2007, the Government have concluded their review of business rates reliefs and exemptions following the Lyons Inquiry recommendation to conduct such a review.
Planning Permission: Fees and Charges
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the de minimis threshold will be for a residential planning application to incur the new standard planning charge. [176560]
Mr. Iain Wright: The Government have made it clear that subject to low de minimis thresholds, residential and commercial development will be liable to pay the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). Consultation on the draft regulations setting out the details of the CIL including any proposals on de minimis thresholds will be undertaken later this year.
Public Houses: Non-Domestic Rates
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the Valuation Office Agency collates information on (a) pub quizzes, (b) darts and (c) pool tables when valuing licensed premises for business rates purposes. [176187]
John Healey: The Valuation Office Agency does not collate this information.
Social Security Benefits: Standards
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what local area agreements have been agreed on targets for the number of (a) benefit awards and (b) unclaimed benefits; and with which local authorities. [176588]
John Healey: Local area agreements (LAAs) have been agreed with all top tier local authorities, with the exception of the Isles of Scilly. Since 21 pilots were launched in October 2004, 104 of these agreements have targets relating to benefit awards and unclaimed benefits. These are listed in the following list.
Local area agreements with benefit targets
Barnsley;
Bradford;
Brighton and Hove;
Coventry;
Derbyshire;
Devon;
Doncaster;
Dorset;
Gateshead;
Greenwich;
Hammersmith and Fulham;
Kent;
Peterborough;
Sheffield;
Suffolk;
Telford and Wrekin;
Wigan;
Wolverhampton.
Birmingham;
Leeds;
Leicester;
Blackburn with Darwen;
Manchester;
Norfolk;
Buckinghamshire;
Northamptonshire;
Northumberland;
Camden;
Nottingham;
Nottinghamshire;
Cornwall;
Oldham;
Redbridge;
Croydon;
Somerset;
South Tyneside;
Enfield;
Stoke;
Sunderland;
Essex;
Surrey;
Swindon;
Hounslow;
Brent;
Durham;
Kingston upon Thames;
Kensington and Chelsea;
Islington;
Kirklees;
Durham;
Hartlepool;
Lancashire;
Isle of Wight;
West Sussex;
Shropshire;
Stockport;
Wirral.
Barnet;
Bath and NE Somerset;
Bournemouth;
Bracknell Forest;
Bristol;
Bromley;
Bury;
Calderdale;
City;
Cumbria;
Hackney;
Hull;
Liverpool;
Merton;
Middlesbrough;
Newcastle;
Newham;
NE Lincolnshire;
North Somerset;
North Tyneside;
North Yorkshire;
Plymouth;
Richmond upon Thames;
Rochdale
Salford;
Sefton;
Solihull;
Southwark;
Staffordshire;
Tameside;
Torbay;
Trafford;
Wandsworth;
Warwickshire;
Wiltshire;
York;
Dudley;
Ealing;
Havering;
Hillingdon;
Lambeth;
Reading;
South Gloucestershire;
Southampton;
Thurrock;
Halton;
Haringey.
Valuation Office: Consultants
Mr. Pickles: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether there is (a) a termination date and (b) an option to terminate in the contract between Cole Layer Trumble and Capgemini, for the consultancy services that it provides to assist the ongoing work of the Valuation Office Agency. [176610]
John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 17 December 2007, Official Report, column 1162W.
Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Better Regulation Executive
Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform when he last met officials of the Better Regulation Executive to discuss the reduction of regulatory burdens on industry. [176964]
Mr. McFadden: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform has been in regular contact with his officials from the Better Regulation Executive ever since the department's creation in the summer of 2007, as he has been with other areas of the department.
Business: Regulation
Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (1) what estimate he has made of the financial effect on UK industry of changes in the level of the burden of regulation in each year since 2005; [176963]
(2) what estimate he has made of the likely effect on the costs of business of the Government's proposed 25 per cent. reduction in administrative burdens. [176969]
Mr. McFadden: In May 2005 the Government embarked on a programme to reduce the administrative burden of regulation—the direct cost to businesses and third sector organisations of filling in forms, dealing with inspections and providing statutory information to third parties—by a net 25 per cent. by 2010. Simplification plans published in December 2007 demonstrated that Government have identified annual savings of £3.5 billion by 2010 (26 per cent. of the May 2005 baseline) with £800 million (6 per cent. of the baseline) already delivered.
Further details have been provided in the following table 1.
| Table 1 | |
| Net administrative burden reduction (£ million) | |
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