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Business Rate Supplements Bill

My Lords, I beg to move Amendment 2 and shall speak to Amendments 5 and 29, which are grouped with it. As we discussed in the previous stage the Bill is, by definition, one for the long term. Amendment 2 would allow there to be variation in the purpose of projects to be funded by the business rate supplement. Under Clause 1, a project has to be one which the local authority, ""is satisfied will promote economic development in its area"." In the current climate, I accept that focus, although in Committee I think that we agreed on all sides that one could attribute almost anything to "economic development". Sir Michael Lyons himself, in the recommendations to his report, refers to, ""the impact of the supplement on the local economy, and the potential economic benefits of the spending they"—" the local authority— ""propose to finance from the revenues generated"." That is not quite the same thing. I would argue that environmental and social improvements in any event contribute to the economy of an area. When I was chairing the London Planning Advisory Committee—I think it was in about 1991—we commissioned some wide-ranging and deep research into the world-city status of London, and asked, "What makes a company decide to locate to a particular city?". The quite clear answer was quality of life, something very wide that clearly encompasses environmental and social aspects. Is it not rather arrogant of us to say that businesses are only interested in economic development in a narrow manner? I do not know, of course, whether the Government will seek to overturn the amendment that your Lordships have just agreed, but if we can retain the ballot it seems to answer the issue of what the statutory purpose of BRS should be. I am not proposing an immediate extension, but it would be dotty not to facilitate that extension if the mood or climate is such that it should be extended. My amendments are facets of the same issue. Amendment 2 would require consultation leading to regulations. Amendment 5 is one that we debated at the last stage, requiring, ""a periodic review of the use of … BRS"," and that amendment has important provisions for representations to be made by anyone who is interested are. That amendment and what the review will report should come first, before any regulations provided for in Amendment 2. The Minister may tell us that such a review will happen in any event. The noble Baroness, Lady Andrews, whom I met last week to discuss this stage of the Bill, said that she was going to explain to your Lordships that, under other legislation, there would have to be a review. I hope that the Minister, if he is to pursue that line, can tell the House whether, on such a review, alterations to legislation can be made without more. I suspect not, which is why I am seeking, if not to require regulations, to allow for them. In the last stage, the noble Lord, Lord Best, had an amendment—promoted in that case by the Local Government Association—that would have allowed for the variation, if not necessarily the increase, of the 2p limit. Again, my Amendment 29 would require consultation to precede any regulations that provide for such a variation—and my argument about the ballot is obvious. If this legislation is to support Crossrail, which is its major aim, by definition it must apply for some decades. We believe that it should be flexible enough, with the safeguards that my amendments include, to cater for those decades, not just for the present.