Agenda item

Cllr Richard Watts, Chair of the Resources Board and the LGA Task and Finish group on Business Rates Retention and the Fair Funding Review, introduced the report which provided a summary of the Government’s recently published consultation on Business Rates Retention and asked Members to comment on the draft LGA response which had been developed by the Task and Finish Group.

Members noted that the key issues included resets, with a full reset planned for 2020 and various options for later resets; the Safety Net remaining to soften shocks to the system by setting a minimum Baseline Funding level; noting that scrapping the levy would require primary legislation and so confirming that reform was the best option; looking at options for tier splits; incentivising pooling of authorities to allow for better planning, decision making and a joint approach and a proposal to implement an alternative model of administration to reduce the impact of appeals on councils’ budgets. The Government would also conduct a review of Central and Local Lists, with the aim of creating a rational and transparent system, and reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to address the issue of the impact of appeals on councils’ budgets, and to reform the administration of the system.

In the discussion which followed the following points were raised by Members:

·         Regarding resets, it was highlighted that any transitional arrangements should be incorporated into work on the Fair Funding Review.

·         There should be a clear understanding of how the Government planned to incentivise growth, and the Task Group could consider what the Government has done in the past regarding this.

·         It was confirmed that the Task Group was minded to support the Government’s position on phased resets, but more work was needed to further look at the impact of this.

Decision

The LGA Leadership Board:

1.    noted the draft LGA response to the Business Rates Retention consultation;

2.    provided comments ahead of its consideration by the LGA Executive and subsequent submission to the Government; and

3.    agreed that the final consultation response would be cleared by the Chairman and Group Leaders.

Action

Comments from Members to be taken into account when amending the draft consultation response. (Nicola Morton).