Non-Domestic Rating (Lists) (No. 2) Bill

Lord Addington Excerpts

2nd reading & 2nd reading (Hansard) & 2nd reading (Hansard): House of Lords
Monday 18th January 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Addington (LD)]

My Lords, my taking part in this Bill is totally down to the presence of two other names on the list. The first is that of my noble friend Lady Thomas, because of the points she made when one of these Bills was first presented to the House. When I heard her speech, I said, “I should have been there to back her up.” The second is the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, because when he puts his name down you can reckon there will probably be something about sport. There was not a big jump from rating to small sports clubs—it was not down, but it was something that was going through.

To deal with them in that order, the provision of public toilets, particularly for giving some support to those who are disabled and need access to them, is something a civilised society should do. If you think about it, what you are trying to avoid is a disabled person being fundamentally humiliated—or risking that—when they go out in public. To be perfectly honest, if someone fouls themself, it is not only unpleasant and unsightly, but that person has been marked down as “other”—as being beneath you in public. That is what it effectively amounts to. You have to bear that in mind. You have to actually put that down and say, “That will restrict that person; that fear will restrict them more than just about anything else.” Anybody with them does not want to go through that either.

In coffee shop culture, if we ever get back to it, where cafés have a loo, there is also that little sign that we used to see only in pubs: “Customers’ use only”. It is not a public facility; you are not sure if it is there. You have to go into the place and find it. Is it upstairs or down? We do not know. Many of the suggestions we have heard today, about making available the knowledge of where toilets are and so on, are things that, as a civilised society, we should take on board fundamentally.

To turn my attention to the points about the rating value and the amateur sports groups or smaller sports clubs, we have agreed the principle; let us get the practice down so that it is easy to administer. Let us help these groups. In our society we have a huge bonus in our small sports clubs because, due to historical accident, they are usually self-funded. Local government is not required to provide the stade municipale, as it would be in France. Small clubs have financed themselves. They have given us an infrastructure that will implement government policy—and has been seen as something to implement public policy—for many years. Give them this little bit of help. The principle has been accepted; just say, “Go and get on with it.”

I do not know how many times I have said this, but we have institutions funded either by people taking part and paying a match fee—or whatever you call it—or by the bar. Neither of those income streams is coming in. The Government will have to look at this and are probably keeping an eye on making sure that these institutions stay there, but the higher echelons of most of these sports are not generating the money that used to trickle down. We have a major problem there to keep something that we need and use—to implement the rest of government policy—functioning, or at least functioning at the rate it should. You will not get more people being more active without the use of these things. Even in later-life activity, if you have never moved till the age of 50, and then someone says, “Why don’t you go for a walk with everybody else?” it will be like climbing the Eiger to go up a small hill, to be perfectly honest. We have to make sure that the facilities are there.

I will leave my remarks there, but unless we address these fundamental problems, by making sure that somebody feels safe and has their personal dignity intact when they go out, they will not go out. Let us make sure that we have public toilets you can get to. When it comes to sports clubs, if you have something for free, provided by the general public, that implements government policy, it is insane not to make sure that they can continue to function in the future, especially after the experience of Covid.

Non-Domestic Rating (Lists) (No. 2) Bill

Lord Addington Excerpts

Committee stage & Committee: 1st sitting (Hansard) & Committee: 1st sitting (Hansard): House of Lords
Thursday 4th February 2021 Grand Committee

The Bill will help, and our amendment will help further. I urge my noble friend the Minister to talk to colleagues in the Treasury and seek the changes that are an essential component to the survival of the sector. Should he accept the amendment, he would unite the Committee and the House, giving my noble friends in sport Lord Botham and Lord Addington—and, dare I say it, even Jeremy Clarkson, who much maligned my noble friend the Minister on another occasion—the opportunity to show their gratitude on behalf of the world of sport.

[Lord Addington (LD)]

My Lords, how do you follow that? Jeremy Clarkson being mentioned in a debate in Grand Committee is something new to me. I congratulate my noble friend in sport—my collaborator in sport; that is probably a better way to put it. The essential point is that amateur sport, its clubs and the structure around them are a vital part of our social infrastructure. No one disagrees with that. Will the rating system be a support or a brake on this? How do you generate local money for such a universally accepted good? I congratulate the Government on giving some money to it, although not enough—not as much as it has lost—considering the changes that it will have to go through.

Anybody who has gone through pre-season training will know that it is a bit of a shock to the system. When you have had a year away from it, without playing properly, and you come back to find out that you have problems raising money as well, would you want to sit on the committee? As my noble friend in sport—to use his term again—says, it is a complicated and difficult system and people do not know how to deal with it. I must draw attention to some of the activities I have helped with, including getting the RFU a guide to local government. There were people telling me then, “It is not needed because the information provided is on 53 different websites under 42 different links, and if you understand the law it is fine.” That was the general consensus. These people are amateurs, taking part for fun—and they are giving the Government what they want: activity levels, social interaction and, very often, an informal job market.

Those things are valuable. If the Government will not accept the amendment, please will they heed those words? I hope that the Minister comes away from the debate saying that he will make greater efforts to make the various bits of government talk to each other. If the DCMS proposes something, the department of health may say, “That’s a good idea,” while the Department for Education says, “Yes, but it can’t get in the way of exam results,” and local government says, “What—us?” That seems to be about the way it goes. You can start from any of those departments and stick a couple more in there as well; I will not insult the Minister by trying to mention them all.

If we can get some idea that we are taking the problems of this vital sector seriously, it will reassure many people. Also, Members of the Committee should remember that all the structural problems they see here are the same for virtually any other volunteer sector. I could have mentioned music or any other such sector. Every time that you take on some commitment to a property for a voluntary activity, you have the same problems. When the Minister replies, I hope that he will give us an idea about the thinking here. At the moment, it seems to be a case of, “Oh yes, that’s terribly good, we should support it, but it seems to be somebody else’s problem.” Take a stand here—say it is yours.

[Baroness Pinnock (LD) [V]]

My Lords, this group of amendments relates to the impact of the timing of business rate revaluations on the retail sector and, hence, the future of our town and city centres. In the first group of amendments, we discussed the timing in general terms, but my colleagues and I ask the Government to fully consider the implications of a revaluation on business profitability and survival.

For many small businesses, business rates are a significant overhead, along with the rent for the property. As my noble friend Lord Stunell reminded us, the Government’s original intention was to have a revaluation assessment in 2019, but this was moved because of negative forces affecting retailers. That negative impact has not gone away, as he said. We support the relief provided by the Government as part of their Covid response, but these are very uncertain times. This Bill proposes to push back the date on which the multiplier is announced from the September to the December prior to the new valuations coming live—in this instance, it means an announcement in December 2022. This will give businesses just three months to analyse the implications for them of the new rates bill they will be paying from April 2023. The amendment in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Stunell would enable the Government to consider the consequences of the new valuation for particular business sectors and particular regions before the multiplier was determined. An impact assessment would have to consider all the angles of the proposal and would throw light on the effect of the revaluation. It is a positive amendment which would help the Government get to a fair outcome in the revaluation of business rates.

As the Minister will know, in 1990, when the system was created, the multiplier was 34.8%. In 2020, that had risen to 51.2% for large businesses and just under 50% for small businesses. The multiplier is a crucial factor in the final business rate bill. The consumer prices index is the relevant figure used for the multiplier. Does the Minister think it is now time to reconsider the level of the multiplier? I suspect that the answer to my question will be that we should wait for the business rate review that the Government constantly promise. That will give no comfort to businesses, who will know from this Bill that they are expected to pay business rates under this outmoded scheme for at least another five years. There is obviously an effect on the profitability of individual businesses, but there is also the cumulative effect on town and city centres. As the noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, reminded us, one in 10 shops currently lies empty.

The revaluation is just one of the uncertainties that businesses are having to grapple with. The town centre funds and high-street funds that the Government have announced are all well and good, but they just paper over the cracks while the main issues affecting business survival are largely ignored in policy definition and implementation.

My noble friend Lord Addington and the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, have raised an issue close to their hearts: the effect of business rates on amateur sports clubs. Both were right to do so and made the case with knowledge, experience, and powerful arguments which we fully support. Every community will have an amateur sporting activity at its heart, one that provides enjoyment and an opportunity to develop skills and teamwork through physical activity. They are vital ingredients of a healthy community. I urge the Minister to take note of the arguments made and come to Report with a proposal for action to help amateur sports clubs. I look forward to his response on all the points made.

Non-Domestic Rating (Lists) (No. 2) Bill

Lord Addington Excerpts

Report stage & Lords Hansard
Monday 1st March 2021 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Lord Addington]

2: After Clause 1, insert the following new Clause—
“Assessment of effects of timing of business rates revaluations on amateur sports clubs and clubs providing other facilities
Within six months of the passing of this Act, and biennially thereafter, the Secretary of State must publish the report of a review analysing the effects of the timing of business rates revaluations on amateur sports clubs and those providing facilities for physical recreation and cultural activities.”

[Lord Addington (LD)]

My Lords, I return to the subject of support for amateur sports clubs which I raised in Committee. I, too—I might as well clarify it now—do not expect to divide the House at the end of this debate. Of course, the Minister might just manage to inspire me by his answer, but that is not normally his style. Let us see if we can be consistent about that.

The reason why I am raising this again is that, although the Minister gave me some answers, I want a bit more detail and thought about how the Government are planning for the future of sports clubs and sport itself. The Government have accepted their importance by giving them some support throughout the lockdown period, but the problems sports clubs have will, as in all sectors, not stop the minute they get back. Actually, the minute we start activity again, problems will be exposed and identified. All of them can be accentuated by finance. Business rates are part of that. That is where it comes from, so let us see if we can get some idea of whether the Government are prepared to go across department and across thinking to make sure that they accept that this group is worth keeping on.

Why are sports clubs worth keeping on? It is quite simple: in this country we have a tradition of sports clubs running themselves and being set up without government support, often with the help of employers—indeed, employers have set up sports clubs which have survived when the employer has gone. We have a tradition of self-help which has provided the infrastructure for sport to take place. At amateur level, sport is dependent on that structure. These clubs and centres depend, for example, on their bars and on renting out rooms for other functions to keep themselves going. They are small businesses and act in the business environment even with charitable status. They have a consistent relationship of raising their own funds. How the Government are thinking slightly longer term to make sure they can carry on doing that is vital.

Let us not kid ourselves: there is a major problem coming through here. I do not know how enforced inactivity has at the moment encouraged people to retire early from a club; for instance, retiring at 32 as opposed to 35. There has been a break in activity. To take a classic example, you will not get fit as easily as you did and you have started doing something else, so you ask yourself whether you want to go through the pain and discomfort of getting back into shape. It is one of the first considerations. Also, perhaps people think they should spend more time with something else. It is when that interaction stops that people stop going. We all know that; anybody who has been involved in this knows it. I do not know how rugby union is going to handle it, having had probably the biggest break. It is probably the biggest example of this model. It will have to restructure. I do not know how, but it will be something to come back to. The Government have said they value these clubs and all the activity outside, education and structure. Clubs are going to have a problem structuring how they take on their activity and how that relates to funding.

Rates is part of that, so I will be looking to get from the Government today an idea of how they think this bit of government fits in. The idea of getting an initial review and then a continuing one is very important. Let us face it: I am not an expert on rates. Having attended a couple of meetings with my colleagues, I decided that I probably do not want to become one. This is a complicated, difficult thing. Something that has no intellectual friends is probably business rates. There is probably someone hiding in a cupboard in Whitehall who quite likes them, but that is about where they are. Can we have a look at how this local taxation affects sports clubs? How are the Government taking this on? Sports clubs are important. We are hearing about social interaction and mental health problems. Sport is a great medium for that. It is the social connection that goes through. It is physical connection and support, and something that is tied into so many other bits of government that it is not true. I hope that when the Minister answers this amendment he will give us an idea of how his department is taking a lead or feeding in on this, because it is one of the links in the chain. If this link is strong and healthy, the rest of that chain may just survive. I beg to move.

[Lord Moynihan (Con)]

My Lords, I refer to my interests in sport as set out in the register. It is a pleasure and a privilege to follow my noble friend in sport, the noble Lord, Lord Addington, and support Amendment 2 in his name. During the passage of this Bill, the noble Lord and I have simply sought to point out that, at a critical time as we seek to emerge from Covid-19 in 2021, it is hoped that the Government will finally take the vital opportunity to initiate new policies. This includes the adoption of this new clause to give a new national impetus to sport, recreation and an active lifestyle, which was missed at the last opportunity created by the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Addington (LD)]

My Lords, I thank noble Lords who have spoken in support of us, particularly my friend in sport, although I prefer “collaborator”. I thank the Minister for his reply about the current system and for saying that if you have done the right thing, you will get some benefit out of it. That is fair enough, as such things are fairly hard won in the first place. The noble Lord, Lord Rooker, had a chat about the creation of community amateur sports clubs—a conversation which, I believe, the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, and I were both in on, in the Moses Room. Civil servants were more or less told to go back and think again, so a precedent has been set that should perhaps be looked at at some point. These groups do good things and do the Government’s job for them.

My amendment also mentioned physical, recreational and cultural activities. We did not really get round to them in the debate but they are also important. Maybe we should think about dance classes, local am dram and music group facilities as well. The Minister has acknowledged that the Government as a whole have a responsibility here. It is not something that can be pushed off to health, DCMS, education or meetings at junior functionary level, and then be ignored; it is a priority. The most important point here is that the Government as a whole should support this as it does their work for them in many fields. I do not think there is much dispute about that.

However, if rates is not the way forward, I look forward to dragging out of whoever happens to be sitting where the Minister is now how they are going to do it and combine the various areas, because that is the important thing to come out of this. Having said that, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.

Amendment 2 withdrawn.