---

Council Tax (New Valuation Lists for England) Bill

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for that full reply. The amendment that I tabled in Grand Committee was a probing amendment to achieve a greater understanding of how the Government are going to decide when the Secretary of State will use the power given to him in the Bill. I wanted to understand what factors the Secretary of State will take into account when determining whether to revalue and what framework he will use to decide whether the time is right. We must always remember that the longer we stay with the present valuation system, the more discrepancies there will be, and that there is at least an equal effect and impact from a decision not to revalue as a decision to revalue. What I was seeking to do was to understand. My disappointment is that, both in Grand Committee and today, the Minister has concentrated on what she sees as the flaws in my amendment, rather than taking the opportunity to give me the reassurance that I felt I needed in order to understand these processes. I rather think that she has not done that because she cannot, which brings us back to our basic problem: we have dealt with this Bill in an isolated way, particularly from the Lyons review but to a lesser extent from the Miliband review. I think that it is that detachment which is causing us so many of the problems, because we have a sense that we are taking a step into the dark. We do not know where this is leading, which is causing us to be nervous. However, I shall not press the amendment to a vote today. My concerns are on the record and I hope that the Minister and the rest of the House will accept them in the spirit in which they were expressed. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.