Category: Speeches

The comments made by Brandon Lewis, the then Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government, on 5 December 2012.

I am delighted to announce we are giving Pub is The Hub £150,000 for their project. The government is taking decisive action to support community pubs including doubling business rate relief, which gives up to 100% discounts for small firms including pubs and postponing revaluation will also avoid local pubs facing an 11% rise in their business rates bills.

This is on top of abolishing the last government’s cider tax, cutting red tape on live music in pubs and stopping unfair sales of alcohol below cost-price by supermarkets. We have given councils powers to offer local business rate discounts and the Community Right to Bid lets communities protect their pubs and guard against their unnecessary loss.

The comments made by Brandon Lewis, the then Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government, on 21 November 2012.

I am today publishing a policy statement that provides early confirmation of the government’s policy decisions in a number of key areas following this summer’s technical consultation on the new business rate retention scheme. This policy statement will support local authorities, ahead of the provisional local government finance settlement, in their preparations for smooth implementation of the business rates retention scheme from April 2013.

The business rates retention scheme will enable local authorities to retain a large proportion of locally collected business rates to help fund the services they provide, thereby creating a direct link between business rates collected and local authority income, and reducing local authorities’ dependency on central government grants. The scheme will give all councils a strong incentive to go for growth and could add approximately £10 billion to the wider economy by 2020.

The policy statement confirms government’s intention to proceed with the implementation of a range of proposals that were set out in the technical consultation. It also sets out a number of changes to those proposals, in response to comments received to the consultation, including the government’s intention to maintain the 1:1 proportionate levy but with a limit of 50p in the pound. This will translate into very real benefits for authorities, allowing at least 25p in each extra pound of business rates generated locally to be retained locally. In addition, the policy statement sets out the government’s intention to fix the safety net at 7.5% – the most generous level within the range consulted upon. This guarantee will be maintained in real terms, since baseline funding levels will be uprated by RPI for the purpose of calculating eligibility for the safety net.

Overall, government considers that these policy decisions will result in a system that provides a strong growth incentive for authorities, while being underpinned by robust protections to help councils maintain effective services.

I have placed a copy of the policy statement in the library of the House. The policy statement and a revised plain English guide to business rate retention are also available on the GOV.UK website.

Data consultation

I am also today publishing the data consultation on the 2013-14 local government finance settlement. The consultation sets out the majority of data that may be used in calculating the provisional baseline funding levels and revenue support grant allocations from 2013-14. This release will enable local authorities to begin checking the indicator data.

The consultation can be found on the local government finance website.

Local Council Tax support

In preparation for the introduction of local Council Tax support schemes in April 2013, the government consulted on aspects of the funding arrangements to support authorities to offer Council Tax support.

Next week I will publish an update on these arrangements, including on the government’s approach to addressing budget pressures to ensure all authorities have a fair starting point. Final funding allocations will be included in the provisional local government finance settlement.

I will also be publishing the Council Tax base regulations and the government response to the consultation on providing certainty for the funding of local precepting authorities.

Also the final versions of 2 key Council Tax support regulations (first published in July) have been made and are soon to be published and laid before Parliament – the prescribed requirements scheme and the default scheme.

Links to the regulations will be available on the GOV.UK website.

The comments made by Brandon Lewis, the then Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government, on 14 November 2012.

Introduction

I am delighted to be invited to speak here today and to see so many others here to support you. I understand that this is the fifth AFSA national conference, and my predecessor Bob Neill has spoken at the last 2. I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Bob, who has a deep understanding of the issues you face, as well as a great knowledge of the sector. I know that Bob, when he was Fire Minister, greatly valued the close and positive relationship he had with AFSA. I very much hope to be able to continue that.

The importance of AFSA

The importance of groups such as AFSA cannot be underestimated. You provide a forum for people to come together to discuss key concerns, to support each other’s development, and provide an opportunity for challenge.

And in terms of challenge, AFSA continues to perform a vital role in terms of ensuring that equality, diversity and fairness are mainstreamed in the Fire and Rescue Service. Events such as this provide excellent opportunities for the exchange of ideas, and for lively debate. I know that a regional AFSA group has been set up here in the West Midlands, supporting professional development and progression, sharing learning experiences, building a solid network of mutual support for employees, and supporting charities and fundraising. All of this shows the excellent work that the association is doing both at the national and local level.

Promoting equality and diversity

I know that Sir Graham Meldrum, when he was Chief Fire Officer in the West Midlands and again as Chief Inspector of Her Majesty’s Fire Service Inspectorate did a great amount of work to promote equality and diversity in the service, and this excellent work has been carried on by Vij as Chief Fire Officer of the West Midlands, and in his presidency of the Chief Fire Officers Association.

And I would like to say, on a personal note, that I am deeply committed to advancing equality of opportunity to one and all, not only in the fire and rescue service, but also in the communities they live in and serve. I am also of the firm conviction that this is best driven locally. And I say this because I want each fire and rescue authority to be responsible for reaching out to minority groups, and ensuring that they recognise that the service is for them – not as an add on – but for them along with everyone else in the community. I want fire and rescue services to go out into their communities, find the right people, engage with them and draw them into the heart of the fire and rescue service family. I want the entire community to be so integrated into the fire and rescue service that we no longer have to think in terms of equality and diversity – it will just happen automatically. I know that this is at the core of what AFSA is working for, and you have my full support in that.

There is no doubt, a lot is already happening, and I would like to highlight some of the work going on here in the West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service. They have Welcome to the West Midlands, an education programme for new migrants to promote safety, well being, community understanding and citizenship. This has been developed in consultation with migrants to meet the information gap which can occur when someone arrives in this country. The West Midlands also has active employee engagement through the local AFSA group, working with them to target under represented operational and support staff to develop essential skills.

In my short time as Fire Minister I have been very impressed by the wide range of local initiatives such as these, which not only reach out to the under represented, but also to the vulnerable.

In Greater Manchester, the fire service is leading a community project with the Asian Development Association of Bury. This project, which provided employment opportunities for local people, has already seen the production of a fire safety video that can be heard in eight of Manchester’s most commonly used languages. It will be the main communication tool used in community education sessions, facilitated by fire and rescue service volunteers recruited by the association. There will also be a series of workshops for the BME business community designed to raise awareness of how the fire and rescue service can help them meet their responsibilities under the Fire Safety Order. This project will be rolled out across all of Manchester’s ten metropolitan boroughs in the near future.

To engage young people from a community they have previously found hard to reach, and to respect religious beliefs, they have established a cadet scheme in Hyde for young women from the Bangladeshi community, and they are hoping to use this as a model to engage many ethnic communities in similar activities.

This work is being driven forward at the local level – not by central target or quotas, but by responding to the demands of their local communities. And to be able to respond to these, each fire and rescue service needs to make full use of the human resources at their disposal – and to do this equality and diversity has to be at the core of any organisation.

The key to delivering the best service to the local community is to have a diverse, representative workforce, equipped to understand and meet the needs of those it serves and capable of delivering a first class service to everyone. This will also support the service’s aim to create a better understanding of its preventative role and of the support and advice it is able to provide.

The fire service must ensure that every employee is valued; that there truly is equality of opportunity for all, and that the working culture is such that unfair discrimination, unacceptable behaviour, bullying and harassment are not tolerated. I strongly believe that the fire and rescue service has gone a long way to achieve this goal and together with partners like AFSA they can continue to work to create an even more open and inclusive service.

Fire Kills

I should also like to take this opportunity to thank AFSA for your continued support of the Fire Kills campaign. The Fire Kills campaign has had a focus on BME groups since 2005 – and for good reason. Research has shown that certain BME communities are at a potentially greater risk from fire. Smoke alarm ownership amongst Asian communities is ten per cent lower than the national average. Recent analysis of accidental dwelling fire victim profiles has suggested that Asian communities are potentially more vulnerable than African communities. This has led to our 2012 campaign focussing solely on the Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities. With smoke alarm ownership levels lower in these communities the primary message will be on the importance of working smoke alarms. Two bursts of advertising will run – one which began this week, and another in March 2013. The new campaign will focus on blessings. As you know blessing of wellbeing, health and a long life are delivered on important occasions in these communities. The new campaign will encourage people to make their blessings count – ‘when you give a blessing, make it count: test your smoke alarm’. There will be radio advertising to demonstrate the fire consequences of not having a working smoke alarm, linking it back to a blessing that was given. I have no doubt that this campaign, targeted primarily at first generation Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities, will be a powerful tool for you and all those in fire and rescue services seeking to reduce deaths and injuries.

Economic position

The theme of this conference is ‘advancing equality during austerity’. I think that it is important to note that there are signs of improvement in the economy. Jobs are being created, manufacturing and exports have grown as a share of our economy, our trade with vibrant, emerging economies such as China and Brazil is improving, and the world is once again investing in Britain.

But we face many challenges. The debts built up over many years will take time to work our way through, not helped by a decline in our competitiveness which was effectively masked by unsustainable borrowing.

Despite the need to cut the national deficit, fire and rescue, as a frontline emergency service, has been given funding protection with reductions back-loaded to give more time for sensible savings to be made, and reductions applied to fire and rescue authorities have been less than those applied to local authorities in general.

I have been heartened to hear how many fire and rescue authorities have risen to the challenges that the spending review has posed. However, I know some of you have concerns that fire and rescue services may disproportionately reduce funding on equality and diversity activities.

I hope this is not the case. But if you see this happening, then you must speak up. It is vital that fire and rescue services do not make decisions that will impact on their ability to deliver on their statutory duties as required under the Equality Act 2010, and transparency and accountability are at the heart of our approach towards local government generally.

Conclusion

In closing I would like to thank you once again for giving me this opportunity to speak to you today. I do hope that your organisation goes from strength to strength, and that you remain and important and influential voice in the British fire and rescue service.

I would also like to extend my congratulations to all the award winners who will be honoured at this evening’s event, well done, keep up the good work and have a great night.

The comments made by Brandon Lewis, the then Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government, on 12 November 2012.

On 18 October, the government announced our intention to postpone the next business rates revaluation in England from 2015 to 2017. Clause 22 of the Growth and Infrastructure Bill currently before the House of Commons will deliver upon this commitment.

During the recent Westminster Hall debate on business rates and during the second reading debate on the Bill, ministers committed to provide more information on the analysis which has informed the government’s position to assist parliamentary scrutiny.

A full assessment would require a revaluation, which in itself would cost £43 million and take a significant amount of time. However, the Valuation Office Agency have today published their high level estimates of non-domestic rental and rating assessment movements for England as at January 2012; it provides an illustration of the potential impact those rateable values would have had on business rate bills. The Agency’s analysis is based on professional judgements informed by limited rental market evidence up to January 2012. The analysis has been prepared independently of ministers and published in full.

The last revaluation was based on April 2008 valuations and rents set at the height of an unsustainable property boom. Since then, the economy and property market have faced exceptional changes. Rents have fallen since that property boom. Some groups have assumed that falling business rents would entail falling business rates. However, this is not the case. While aggregate rateable values have fallen, this would automatically be offset at the revaluation by a higher rating multiplier. Firms would just be required to pay a higher proportion of their rateable value.

The Agency’s estimates are based on an increase in the multiplier of 16%. My department has actually forecast an increase of 20%, as a consequence of inflation and the adjustment required to the multiplier for appeals; in this context, in practice, the losers would be likely to be even greater than those presented in the Agency’s paper.

Overall, the Agency’s analysis suggests that 800,000 premises would have seen a real term increase in their rates at a 2015 revaluation. This compares to 300,000 seeing reductions.

Some sectors would have faced big hikes including petrol stations (+28% tax paid), the self-catering industry such as caravan parks (+29% paid), hotels (+6% tax paid), theatres (+25% tax paid), and pubs (+11% tax paid). The retail sector overall would have seen a tax rise of 1% above inflation, and food retail and convenience stores in particular would have faced significant tax increases.

Given business rates are the third biggest outgoing for local firms after staff and rent, such changes would invariably feed through to more expensive prices for family’s weekly shop, more expensive pints in pubs and a significant hit on Britain’s tourism trade. Indeed, as Community Pubs Minister, I am very aware of the concern expressed by honourable members on the pressures being faced by local pubs.

Revaluations should be revenue-neutral, and equally, postponing the revaluation will be revenue-neutral. Overall the revaluation would not change the total business rates paid in England, so some sectors and locations would have seen reductions at 2015. During recent parliamentary exchanges, it was unfairly suggested that that this change was being done to assist southern parts of England at the expense of other parts of the country.

However, our analysis shows that offices in central London would have seen by far the greatest reductions in tax paid if the 2015 revaluation had gone ahead (a fall in aggregate rateable value that is one of the reasons why the multiplier has to be increased by so much to make up for the lost revenue). There are complex variations by both locality and by sector in different parts of the country, but what is clear is that there would be far more losers than winners across the country as a whole. In making this decision, ministers are seeking to support the national interest and the economy as a whole.

I appreciate that as a very direct form of taxation, business rates are not popular. Local government finance is too often opaque and confusing. However, we are acting in an open and transparent manner. This independent evidence shows that by postponing the 2015 revaluation, we will protect local firms and local shops from sharp changes in business rates bills at a time when we want to ensure the economy is growing. It will provide business with a stable economic environment in which to invest and support jobs for the next 5 years.

A copy of the document will be placed in the Library together with a copy of the Impact Assessment for the Growth and Infrastructure Bill.

The comments made by Brandon Lewis, the then Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Communities and Local Government, on 2 November 2012.

The Norton is not just a cracking pub, a lively atmosphere and vital local business but it is a true example of a resident run pub run that is now firmly in the hands of the whole community. I wish it every success.

The community of Cold Norton have shown just how determination and ambition can be used to safeguard treasured local facilities – not just so they can stay open, but so they can thrive and grow. It is exactly why we are pushing power away from Whitehall and into the hands of local people who know what they want for their area.

The article written in the Daily Telegraph by Brandon Lewis, the then Minister of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, on 24 October 2012 and circulated by the Government.

Business rates are the third biggest outgoing for local firms after rent and staff costs. As a very direct and visible tax demand, unsurprisingly, such bills aren’t that popular with business.

A revaluation at this point would be likely to result in sharp changes to business-rate bills in many parts of the country and in many sectors.

Business rates are tied to inflation, but every five years, the way bills are calculated are revised in a revaluation undertaken by professionals in the Valuation Office Agency.

Parliament will shortly debate a new Growth and Infrastructure Bill, and its provisions include postponing the next business rates revaluation in England to 2017.

This decision will avoid local firms and local shops facing unexpected hikes in their business-rates bills over the next five years. As business rates will remain linked to inflation, there will be no real-terms increase in rates over this period.

The last revaluation was based on April 2008 valuations and rents set at the height an unsustainable property boom during the last administration. Since then, the economy and property market have faced exceptional changes. A revaluation at this point would be likely to result in sharp changes to business-rate bills in many parts of the country and in many sectors.

Rents have fallen since that property boom. Some people assume falling business rents somehow equal falling business rates: everyone’s a winner. That might happen in a perfect world, but not in the complex citadel of local government finance.

Business-rates bills are calculated by taking the rateable value of a property (roughly equivalent to their notional yearly rent), and applying a ‘multiplier’. While aggregate rateable values have fallen, this would automatically be offset at the revaluation by a higher rating multiplier. Firms would just be required to pay a higher proportion of their rateable value. The Valuation Office Agency’s best estimate of rateable value movements suggests there had been a 13 per cent drop in values in England since the last valuation.

Because revaluations are revenue neutral overall the tax take would have had to rise by 20 per cent to 56.9p in the pound following the 2015 revaluation. In essence, it works like a tax see-saw. Whether the value goes down on one side or up on the other, the taxman will demand the same overall tax take. Suspending the revaluation will not earn the Government a penny, but it does help us steady that see-saw.

Of course, with any revaluation, there will be some winners. There will be losers, too.

If a small number of high-value sectors and areas saw very sharp declines then the average fall could be very large indeed – meaning that many more businesses whose rents have fallen but by less than the national average would have seen tax increases from 2015. By definition, we have not undertaken a formal revaluation, so any figures will be rough estimates.

The Valuation Office Agency’s best estimate of rental value movements across England, which ahead of carrying out the detailed work necessary for a revaluation is based on professional judgments informed by limited rental market evidence up to January 2012, illustrate that many businesses with reducing rateable values could expect to see increases in their actual rates bills.

Extrapolating from these early estimates suggests that 800,000 premises would see a real-terms rise in their rates bill, where only 300,000 premises would see their bill fall.

Smaller and medium firms are likely to be harder hit. Some in the retail sector have criticised the postponement of the revaluation: yet our estimates suggest that retail is one of the sectors which will face big hikes in bills because of the revaluation, alongside the likes of petrol stations, hotels and pubs.

Transitional relief may be able to compensate initially some of the losers by clawing back most of the gains from the smaller number of winners (so-called downward phasing).

However, we do not think that such immense volatility at this point in time would be in the wider public interest, particularly when we want to ensure the economy is growing.

The Government is committed to maintaining up-to-date rates bills through regular five-yearly revaluations in England, which will resume after 2017, once the economy has had a chance to recover fully from the financial and fiscal crisis this Government inherited.

The engines of economic growth aren’t found in the corridors of Whitehall but in the foundries of great local British companies. The best thing Government can do to help such businesses is to provide them with a stable economic environment. This is why we want to protect local firms from soaring tax bills.