Lord Beecham
Main Page: Lord Beecham (Labour - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Beecham's debates with the Wales Office
(7 years, 8 months ago)
Lords ChamberMy Lords, the noble Baroness is right that there is discussion on attendance allowance being devolved, although no conclusion has been reached on that. We are currently considering responses on that. I do not think we have had a response from Watford in general terms on the reforms we are suggesting.
My Lords, will the Government, in the course of changing the new system, allow local authorities to vary the business rate, or will the level of business rates still be determined at national level and merely the receipts be localised? Further, what steps will the Government take to redress the imbalances that will arise from some areas having significantly higher potential yield from business rates than others?
My Lords, as I indicated, we are consulting on this and we will discuss it with local government as the reforms come forward. On the general point on redistribution, that has to be an element of this. The noble Lord is quite right that some local authorities will be in receipt of far more in business rates than others. We will need a corrective mechanism to deal with that.