Arcadia and Debenhams: Business Support and Job Retention

Nigel Mills Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd December 2020 Commons Chamber

[Paul Scully]

I have not had any information or consideration of that issue as yet.

[Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) (Con) [V]]

Does the Minster agree that the best way to save these businesses is for people to keep shopping at them? Can he assure people that their rights are protected if they buy vouchers, shop online, or want to return items after Christmas?

[Paul Scully]

That is a really important issue, and my hon. Friend is absolutely right to say that these businesses want people to trade. At the moment, both Arcadia and Debenhams have said that they will accept vouchers, and I encourage anybody who is shopping at either store to use their credit card if they are spending more than £100, because then the Consumer Credit Act 1974 kicks in. At this moment, vouchers are accepted.

Oral Answers to Questions

Nigel Mills Excerpts

Monday 4th March 2019 Commons Chamber

[Jake Berry]

As one of the Members of Parliament from east Lancashire covered by the proposal, I can say that we certainly welcome the discussions that are taking place more widely across east Lancashire. The Department has only just received the letter—despite the press release being sent out last week—and is giving it some consideration, but surely we could make more progress if every council in east Lancashire supported it.

[Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) (Con)]

Amber Valley Borough Council is holding a planning meeting tonight on building 2,000 houses on the green belt across a number of sites. Can the Minister confirm that that should be a last resort and that the council has to show exceptional circumstances for each site before it does that?

[Kit Malthouse]

My hon. Friend is exactly right. The green belt should only be used in exceptional circumstances, after local authorities have demonstrated that they have exhausted all other options, including the use of brownfield, co-operating with their neighbours and looking at further density in their developments. We strengthened protections for the green belt in the national planning policy framework published in July 2018, and that should be a last resort.

Oral Answers to Questions

Nigel Mills Excerpts

Monday 23rd July 2018 Commons Chamber

[Kit Malthouse]

We are committed to a vibrant housing market with tenures of all types, and for all types of people. In particular, we have emphasised that housing for social rent should be an area of growth. As was stated in an earlier answer, we are targeting a further 12,500 social rent housing for provision in the next few years, but if the hon. Gentleman has any ideas about where, when and who I need to push, prod or harass in order to build more, I will be more than happy to do that.

[Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) (Con)]

11. What steps his Department is taking to ensure fairness in the allocation of funding to local government.

[Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)]

14. What steps his Department is taking to ensure fairness in the allocation of funding to local government.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Rishi Sunak)]

We are undertaking a fair funding review of local authorities’ relative needs and resources to address concerns about the fairness of the current system, and I am pleased to say that we are making good progress in collaboration with the sector in order to introduce a simple, fair and transparent funding formula.

[Nigel Mills]

Councils across Derbyshire have suffered under the previous funding formula, and I welcome the consultation and the fact that Derbyshire is one of the business rate retention pilots. Does my hon. Friend agree that local councils could achieve a double whammy by encouraging local growth and creating more jobs, and also by raising their own funds through the increased business rates?

Draft Non-Domestic Rating (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) (England)(Amendment) (Regulations) 2018

Nigel Mills Excerpts

Tuesday 13th March 2018 General Committees

[Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) (Con)]

I have a couple of questions about the order, which I broadly welcome. I think we have all seen constituency cases where businesses have an assessment for business rates that are far higher than they can afford, and seem to be based on historical, inaccurate levels of turnover or profitability. We would all like those businesses to be able to appeal and reach a more sensible rating valuation as quickly and reasonably as possible.

I happily welcome all measures to take away frivolous appeals, but will the Minister confirm that there will be no penalty for making a frivolous business rate appeal and then not providing any supporting information? He used the example of making an appeal and saying that the right value should be £1. In the legislation, I can see penalties only for incorrect information, not for frivolous appeals. We probably have to strike a balance between not taking away someone’s right to appeal, or scaring them out of making the appeal in the first place, and asking the office to decide whether the appeal is really worth having. That puts the office in the rather strange position of having to assess every appeal to see whether it is reasonable. I suppose the real question is how we can discourage pointless appeals if there is no sanction for making one.

Secondly, the Minister will perhaps realise, if he is in his role for a while, that I like to ask drafting questions about such orders. I am intrigued by the fact that someone can get a penalty for providing false information “knowingly, recklessly or carelessly.” I understand that knowingly means deliberately providing incorrect financial information, for example, and that carelessly means not checking, or providing information that is out of date or inaccurate, but what does reckless mean in this situation? The normal dictionary definition of reckless is not caring about danger. I cannot quite see what the danger is of providing false information to a business rates appeal. Perhaps he could give us an example of how behaviour could be reckless but not knowing or careless in this situation. I assume that it is a phrase that we always use in this kind of thing, but I cannot work out what it means in this instance.

Draft Non-Domestic Rating (Alteration of Lists and Appeals) (England)(Amendment) Regulations 2018

Nigel Mills Excerpts

Tuesday 13th March 2018 General Committees

[Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) (Con)]

I have a couple of questions about the regulations, which I broadly welcome. I think we have all seen constituency cases where businesses have an assessment for business rates that are far higher than they can afford, and seem to be based on historical, inaccurate levels of turnover or profitability. We would all like those businesses to be able to appeal and reach a more sensible rating valuation as quickly and reasonably as possible.

I happily welcome all measures to take away frivolous appeals, but will the Minister confirm that there will be no penalty for making a frivolous business rate appeal and then not providing any supporting information? He used the example of making an appeal and saying that the right value should be £1. In the legislation, I can see penalties only for incorrect information, not for frivolous appeals. We probably have to strike a balance between not taking away someone’s right to appeal, or scaring them out of making the appeal in the first place, and asking the office to decide whether the appeal is really worth having. That puts the office in the rather strange position of having to assess every appeal to see whether it is reasonable. I suppose the real question is how we can discourage pointless appeals if there is no sanction for making one.

Secondly, the Minister will perhaps realise, if he is in his role for a while, that I like to ask drafting questions about such measures. I am intrigued by the fact that someone can get a penalty for providing false information “knowingly” recklessly or carelessly. I understand that “knowingly” means deliberately providing incorrect financial information, for example, and that “carelessly” means not checking, or providing information that is out of date or inaccurate, but what does “reckless” mean in this situation? The normal dictionary definition of “reckless” is not caring about danger. I cannot quite see what the danger is of providing false information to a business rates appeal. Perhaps he will give us an example of how behaviour could be reckless but not knowing or careless in this situation. I assume that it is a phrase that we always use in this kind of thing, but I cannot work out what it means in this instance.