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Business Rate Supplements Bill

I am grateful to the Minister, but I understood the intervention of the noble Lord, Lord Tope, to be different to that. I thought that he was arguing that rather than adding greater uncertainty, the introduction of the amendment would reduce uncertainty. At the moment there is a double level of uncertainty in the Bill. The first uncertainty arises because the levying authority has the freedom to "think" whether it would be appropriate to consult. So, before it does anything else, it can sit down and determine the outcome to that process. That could be a very uncertain process and, as it is written today, would be an uncertain process. Having then decided who it thought would be appropriate, the levying authority then has a second opportunity where uncertainty could exist, because it is asked to consider who it thinks might become liable to pay a chargeable amount; a second issue. If the Minister is seeking to remove some of this uncertainty, she would do well to support the admirable amendment tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Tope, particularly since both clauses which provide for such flexibility relate back to the consultation on the prospectus, where already there is further opportunity for consideration as to whether the authority thinks others should be consulted. Clearly that is not the case as it is in subsection (5) for those who are going to be charged but, nevertheless, in the context of Clause 6 it would add yet another level of uncertainty. This could helpfully be clarified by acceptance of the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Tope.