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Business Rate Supplements Bill

I wish to speak also to Amendments 17 and 18 standing in my name in this group. Amendment No. 16A in the group stands in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Bates. These amendments deal with the contents of the prospectus in Schedule 1. Amendment 15 would require the inclusion in the prospectus of information about the costs of maintaining and operating the project and the funding of that. These are important matters for rate payers. They are likely to want that information in order to assess the project. Their assessment of its viability must extend beyond simply, in the case of a capital project, something material and concrete—I do not necessarily mean that literally—to something beyond the construction of it. A project will not work unless its operation has been thought through. Paragraph 3 of Schedule 1 says that the prospectus must include: ""A description of any work"" which the local authority has undertaken on the feasibility of the project. This amendment would require that work to be undertaken. Paragraph 5 deals with the authority’s assessment of the impact of the BRS, its benefits and the relationship between the information given about the impact and the benefits. However, these assessments do not extend as far as the provisions of my amendments; they do not quite cover the issue. In Grand Committee, the Minister said that if the levying authority plans to use the BRS for maintenance and operation, it will need to set that out in the prospectus. I accept that but that is not the point of my amendments and is not what I am driving at here. Amendment 17 would provide for an explanation of the proposed project management—something that I think most businesses would be interested in—and of how the project, when completed, is to be managed and its governance arrangements. The amendment that I tabled in Grand Committee was obviously not sufficiently clear as it was answered as if I was proposing that there would always be a special purpose vehicle. I am not proposing that. Sub-paragraph (b) of Amendment 17 states: ""the governance and management … (if any dedicated arrangements)"." Amendment 18 states: ""A description of the arrangements to … keep ratepayers informed … and to enable them to make representations to the authority"." The arrangements about making representations are crucial and would be a significant addition. A good local authority will allow that anyway. This is more than can be covered by guidance about the provision of information. Making representations and allowing for them have different requirements. The noble Lord, Lord Bates, will speak to Amendment 16A. I am flattered by the replication of some of my terminology, but not quite flattered enough to be able to support the requirement for the representation of ratepayers on the governing body. That is not appropriate. At the previous stage I likened ratepayers to shareholders. I accept that shareholders vote on who is on the board and can make representations. In this model, one would expect that, if investors or third parties are involved, they would have contractual rights but would not be part of running the show unless that is part of the deal that they have made to give the loan, or whatever form their investment might take. I also wonder whether it would be possible for an individual to act as a representative, or even a delegate, of all businesses in the area. I hope that the noble Lord can cover this. There will be quite a range of interests concerned and this will not be easy. Indeed, it may have the seeds of something a little dangerous if one is persuaded that, by this sort of arrangement, the interests of ratepayers can be hived off in some way and represented by a board member, or even two board members. The interests of ratepayers should run through all decisions and not be regarded as something tacked on, with lip service paid to them. I beg to move.