---

Business Rate Supplements Bill

My Lords, I will speak also to Amendments 12 and 13. The amendments are retabled from Committee with an addition inspired by the noble Lord, Lord Bates, which I will come to in a moment. They are mild little amendments, and I have been very surprised at the resistance that the Government have shown to them. They simply provide that, under Clause 5, when prospectuses are published, either in hard copy or electronically, they should be accompanied by a summary and what I have described as an "easily understood explanation". This was inspired by the noble Lord, Lord Bates, who said that it would be sensible if local authorities produced FAQs—frequently asked questions—and their answers. I thought that the PPO might have a seizure if I used the term "FAQs" in an amendment, so this longer group of words is the synonym. Amendment 13 provides that copies should be made available not only at the principal office of the levying authority—that would be City Hall in the case of London, county halls elsewhere—but also locally at the principal offices of the relevant billing authorities. In London, this would be at the main offices of the London boroughs. In other areas, it would be the district offices. The Minister at the previous stage said that the Government did not want to overprescribe, and in general we support that. However, the Bill must look first to the interests of the consumer—the ratepayer. The arguments against these amendments in the Commons were not persuasive, and our Minister, if I may put it that way, had to defend something that was not only indefensible but frankly not worth defending. The reference to summaries is included because the prospectus will be a technical and probably pretty heavyweight document, and should be accompanied by something that is short and with which ratepayers can get to grips without difficulty. The third amendment concerns its availability more locally. It will still not be available in many places. There will be the web—I dare say that most businesses liable to the BRS will naturally look to the web for information. However, if a hard copy is required—and the Government seem to think it is, because they are providing for hard copies—its availability should be more local than the Government seem to think is necessary. It really is a token gesture to have a hard copy available at the principal office of the levying authority, given the distances that in most cases would have to be travelled. These are modest and mild amendments. It is beyond me to understand why they have provoked such resistance. I beg to move.