Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on (1) local government finances in England, and (2) the equality of taxation of council tax bands in England being based on property valuations from April 1991.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The Government has no plans to reform the council tax system in this Parliament. A council tax revaluation would be expensive to undertake and could result in increases in bills for many households as well as disrupting the operation of the local government funding system. Council Tax levels are set by local authorities who are required to put in place council tax reduction schemes to help those in financial hardship. When setting out the resources available to local authorities, the annual Local Government Finance Settlement takes account of their differing abilities to generate income through council tax.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Douglas-Miller on 12 February (HL1943), on which date in February they informed the WTO and EU of the proposed changes to the Bread and Flour Regulations 1998 and the Bread and Flour Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998.
Answered by Lord Douglas-Miller - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK Government and devolved administrations notified the World Trade Organization of planned legislative changes to the Bread and Flour Regulations 1998 and Bread and Flour Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998 on 9 February 2024 relating to the mandatory fortification of non-wholemeal wheat flour with folic acid. The EU Commission was notified under the Windsor Framework in respect of the same planned amendments in Northern Ireland on 8 February 2024.
Asked by: Lord Rooker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the likely effect on economic growth and productivity of (1) revaluing council tax bands by reference to current market rates, and (2) abolishing stamp duty in favour of a reformed housing taxation arrangement.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The government has no current plans to revalue council tax bands by reference to current market rates or to abolish Stamp Duty Land Tax in favour of a reformed housing taxation arrangement. The government continues to keep all tax policy under review.