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12 Mar 2009 : Column 732W—continued

Community Development

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the Answer to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar of 14 January 2009, Official Report, columns 768-9W, on community development, for what reasons her Department decided not to proceed with plans for the establishment of neighbourhood improvement districts. [262541]

John Healey: The Government decided not to proceed with neighbourhood improvement districts (NIDs) because there was no hard evidence of demand for them, but clear public concern about council tax levels, and NIDs would have increased burdens on council tax payers. In addition, local authorities, including parish councils, already have powers to provide many of the services that a NID could provide, such as local wardens or neighbourhood managers. The Government have simplified the process for setting up parishes, and have also passed legislation enabling parish councils to be set up in areas that previously could not have them (e.g. London).

Conference Centres: Blackpool

Mr. Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans her Department has to provide funding for the establishment of a new convention centre in Blackpool. [262974]

Mr. Khan: There are currently no plans to provide funding for the establishment of a new convention centre in Blackpool.

Council Tax

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what assessment has been made of the merits of utilising the proposed data-sharing provisions in the Coroners and Justice Bill to facilitate data sharing between public authorities for the purpose of collection of local government taxation. [262656]

John Healey: No such assessment has been made.

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government which local authorities submit billing authority reports to the Valuation Office Agency via the Valuebill/e-BAR electronic interface. [262662]

John Healey: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 19 June 2007, Official Report, column 1647W to the hon. Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove).

Council Tax: Discounts

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether central Government grants to local authorities are adjusted to take account of the use by local authorities of discretionary powers to vary the council tax discount on (a) second and (b) long-term empty homes. [262374]

John Healey: The distribution of formula grant to local authorities in England takes account of the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the authority, together with its relative ability to raise council tax, expressed in terms of the council tax base.

The calculation of a council’s tax base takes into account the band D-equivalent number of second homes and has done so since council tax was introduced in 1993.

Since 1 April 2004, billing authorities have been able to reduce the council discount for second homes in their area (to between 10 and 50 per cent.). A discount of 50 per cent. has continued to be assumed for all authorities in calculating the tax base for the purposes of distributing formula grant.

The actual discount applied to long-term empty homes is applied for all authorities in calculating the tax base for the purposes of distributing formula grant.

Mr. Stewart Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how much was raised by reducing the council tax discount on empty properties in each billing authority in the last year for which figures are available; and what proportion of the revenues were kept by central government in each case. [262666]

John Healey: The last year for which analysis is available is 2008-09. I have placed a table of estimates of the amount raised by reducing the council tax discount on empty properties in each billing authority in the Library of the House.

Council tax revenues are retained by councils. Any reduction in the discount for empty properties is reflected in the council’s tax base, which is taken into account in calculating an authority’s formula grant.

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12 Mar 2009 : Column 738W

Additional revenue raised from reductions to the discount on long-term empty homes, 2008-09
Local authority	Additional revenue
Adur	111,632
Allerdale	—
Alnwick	222,746
Amber Valley	—
Arun	391,174
Ashfield	—
Ashford	345,514
Aylesbury Vale	—
Babergh	270,191
Barking and Dagenham	—
Barnet	—
Barnsley	889,763
Barrow-in-Furness	—
Basildon	—
Basingstoke and Deane	—
Bassetlaw	476,947
Bath and North East Somerset	324,368
Bedford	385,435
Berwick-upon-Tweed	—
Bexley	472,441
Birmingham	2,741,128
Blaby	—
Blackburn with Darwen UA	—
Blackpool UA	—
Blyth Valley	174,575
Bolsover	—
Bolton	—
Boston	—
Bournemouth UA	673,433
Bracknell Forest UA	—
Bradford	—
Braintree	525,595
Breckland	—
Brent	575,503
Brentwood	—
Bridgnorth	170,075
Brighton and Hove	522,956
Bristol	—
Broadland	—
Bromley	701,541
Bromsgrove	269,431
Broxbourne	107,085
Broxtowe	314,307
Burnley	—
Bury	—
Calderdale	—
Cambridge	—
Camden	788,769
Cannock Chase	—
Canterbury	313,992
Caradon	296,863
Carlisle	—
Carrick	342,431
Castle Morpeth	152,327
Castle Point	210,976
Charnwood	—
Chelmsford	334,519
Cheltenham	302,289
Cherwell	213,263
Chester	—
Chesterfield	—
Chester-le-Street	—
Chichester	376,444
Chiltern	—
Chorley	—
Christchurch	152,321
City of London	—
Colchester	380,527
Congleton	—
Copeland	—
Corby	—
Cotswold	223,540
Coventry	661,633
Craven	155,629
Crawley	106,643
Crewe and Nantwich	—
Croydon	1,142,293
Dacorum	—
Darlington UA	400,847
Dartford	150,232
Daventry	149,509
Derby UA	742,488
Derbyshire Dales	374,887
Derwentside	—
Doncaster	—
Dover	430,701
Dudley	—
Durham City	—
Ealing	807,831
Easington	—
East Cambridgeshire	—
East Devon	328,654
East Dorset	184,301
East Hampshire	—
East Hertfordshire	297,220
East Lindsey	—
East Northamptonshire	—
East Riding of Yorkshire UA	1,060,157
East Staffordshire	297,986
Eastbourne	228,019
Eastleigh	—
Eden	166,739
Ellesmere Port and Neston	130,592
Elmbridge	435,289
Enfield	1,131,456
Epping Forest	281,978
Epsom and Ewell	191,986
Erewash	—
Exeter	138,285
Fareham	163,331
Fenland	261,554
Forest Heath	187,953
Forest of Dean	—
Fylde	—
Gateshead	—
Gedling	—
Gloucester	255,521
Gosport	—
Gravesham	209,167
Great Yarmouth	203,052
Greenwich	—
Guildford	486,491
Hackney	—
Halton UA	—
Hambleton	295,301
Hammersmith and Fulham	534,158
Harborough	—
Haringey	408,090
Harlow	90,750
Harrogate	594,999
Harrow	229,629
Hart	—
Hartlepool UA	-
Hastings	537,419
Havant	153,893
Havering	—
Herefordshire UA	442,368
Hertsmere	292,222
High Peak	271,910
Hillingdon	559,731
Hinckley and Bosworth	229,733
Horsham	297,391
Hounslow	62,745
Huntingdonshire (new)	291,636
Hyndburn	—
Ipswich	453,792
Isle of Wight UA	566,238
Isles of Scilly	—
Islington	768,645
Kennet	166,030
Kensington and Chelsea	794,622
Kerrier	293,449
Kettering	249,310
Kings Lynn and West Norfolk	—
Kingston upon Hull UA	996,038
Kingston upon Thames	659,032
Kirklees	1,860,241
Knowsley	—
Lambeth	999,111
Lancaster	770
Leeds	2,240,301
Leicester UA	1,207,459
Lewes	207,918
Lewisham	289,215
Lichfield	—
Lincoln	—
Liverpool	3,498,003
Luton UA	425,855
Macclesfield	—
Maidstone	357,837
Maldon	219,167
Malvern Hills (new)	231,442
Manchester	—
Mansfield	—
Medway Towns UA	814,232
Melton	124,438
Mendip	218,852
Merton	229,846
Mid Bedfordshire	—
Mid Devon	189,168
Mid Suffolk	254,621
Mid Sussex	297,584
Middlesbrough UA	—
Milton Keynes UA	348,557
Mole Valley	191,415
New Forest	341,163
Newark and Sherwood	—
Newcastle upon Tyne	—
Newcastle-under-Lyme	—
Newham	1,019,423
North Cornwall	364,899
North Devon	255,812
North Dorset	155,621
North East Derbyshire	—
North East Lincolnshire UA	523,846
North Hertfordshire	298,787
North Kesteven	—
North Lincolnshire UA	466,201
North Norfolk	469,891
North Shropshire	—
North Somerset UA	14,184
North Tyneside	—
North Warwickshire	—
North West Leicestershire	281,798
North Wiltshire	274,772
Northampton	—
Norwich	246,305
Nottingham City UA	1,268,803
Nuneaton and Bedworth	—
Oadby and Wigston	130,214
Oldham	—
Oswestry	106,624
Oxford	435,358
Pendle	—
Penwith	180,589
Peterborough UA	299,403
Plymouth UA	489,397
Poole UA	374,906
Portsmouth UA	451,359
Preston	—
Purbeck	33,508
Reading UA	435,198
Redbridge	965,160
Redcar and Cleveland UA	425,637
Redditch	—
Reigate and Banstead	136,237
Restormel	186,212
Ribble Valley	—
Richmond upon Thames	640,791
Richmondshire	236,518
Rochdale	—
Rochford	—
Rossendale	334,704
Rother	394,558
Rotherham	—
Rugby	219,718
Runnymede	246,641
Rushcliffe	406,378
Rushmoor	—
Rutland UA	139,153
Ryedale	221,958
Salford	—
Salisbury	—
Sandwell	1,010,509
Scarborough	494,658
Sedgefield	—
Sedgemoor	188,975
Sefton	1,758,655
Selby	281,575
Sevenoaks	330,145
Sheffield	1,805,937
Shepway	342,023
Shrewsbury and Atcham	195,823
Slough UA	221,133
Solihull	—
South Bedfordshire	—
South Bucks	317,616
South Cambridgeshire	—
South Derbyshire	—
South Gloucestershire UA	256,332
South Hams	358,411
South Holland	122,075
South Kesteven	—
South Lakeland	—
South Norfolk	210,260
South Northamptonshire	207,091
South Oxfordshire	262,932
South Ribble	—
South Shropshire	—
South Somerset	454,282
South Staffordshire	243,058
South Tyneside	—
Southampton UA	455,600
Southend-on-Sea UA	468,931
Southwark	475,880
Spelthorne	240,610
St. Albans	310,544
St. Edmundsbury	133,373
St. Helens	546,628
Stafford	—
Staffordshire Moorlands	478,139
Stevenage	—
Stockport	—
Stockton-on-Tees UA	—
Stoke-on-Trent UA	839,967
Stratford-on-Avon	554,198
Stroud	245,294
Suffolk Coastal	368,811
Sunderland	—
Surrey Heath	—
Sutton	593,465
Swale	298,339
Swindon UA	154,013
Tameside	—
Tamworth	—
Tandridge	—
Taunton Deane	184,670
Teesdale	—
Teignbridge	445,062
Telford and Wrekin UA	200,793
Tendring	585,042
Test Valley	—
Tewkesbury	172,985
Thanet	721,724
Three Rivers	196,219
Thurrock UA	358,775
Tonbridge and Mailing	143,120
Torbay UA	590,962
Torridge	152,938
Tower Hamlets	—
Trafford	739,993
Tunbridge Wells	330,140
Tynedale	224,420
Uttlesford	220,631
Vale of White Horse	226,935
Vale Royal	—
Wakefield	—
Walsall	—
Waltham Forest	592,935
Wandsworth	152,681
Wansbeck	—
Warrington UA	—
Warwick	—
Watford	115,137
Waveney	442,751
Waverley	543,499
Wealden	444,811
Wear Valley	—
Wellingborough	199,040
Welwyn Hatfield	—
West Berkshire UA	330,293
West Devon	145,858
West Dorset	342,914
West Lancashire	—
West Lindsey	—
West Oxfordshire	79,265
West Somerset	188,333
West Wiltshire	221,701
Westminster	749,900
Weymouth and Portland	227,645
Wigan	—
Winchester	—
Windsor and Maidenhead UA	385,818
Wirral	—
Woking	—
Wokingham UA	—
Wolverhampton	—
Worcester	109,125
Worthing	223,247
Wychavon	301,516
Wycombe	399,380
Wyre	—
Wyre Forest	194,168
York UA	289,330
Notes: These figures are estimates based on information reported by local authorities on the CTB1, CTB1(S) and BR1 forms for 2008-09. All figures are rounded to the nearest pound.

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