Diplomatic Missions (National Non-domestic Rates)

(Limited Text - Ministerial Extracts only)

Thursday 11th July 2013 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr William Hague)]

The majority of diplomatic missions in the United Kingdom pay the national non-domestic rates (NNDR) requested from them. Diplomatic missions are obliged to pay only 6% of the total NNDR value of their offices. This represents payment for specific services such as street cleaning and street lighting.

Representations by protocol directorate to missions in 2013 led to the settlement of outstanding debts by Kuwait, Namibia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Slovak Republic, Zambia and Zimbabwe—among others.

As at 14 June 2013, the total amount of outstanding NNDR payments as advised by the Valuation Office Agency is £674,110, an increase of almost 20% from the 2011 figure (£566,009). A total of £45,219 of this outstanding debt is owed by Iran and Syria which are not currently represented in the UK. We are therefore unable to pursue these debts. Six missions are responsible for almost two thirds of the remainder. We shall continue to urge those with NNDR debt to pay their dues.

Missions listed below owed over £10,000 in respect of NNDR.