Rating and Valuation (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 1984
| Year | 1984 |
Rating and Valuation (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 1984
1984 CHAPTER 31
An Act to amend the law of Scotland as regards rating, valuation and local government finance and for connected purposes.
[26th June 1984]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
Rating and Local Government Finance
1 Basis of apportionment of needs element of ratesupport grants.
(1) In Part I of Schedule 1 to the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1966 (which among other things relates to the apportionment of the needs element of rate support grants), after paragraph 3 there shall be inserted the following paragraph—
3A
‘3A. Without prejudice to sections 5 and 5A of this Act or to the generality of paragraphs 1 and 3 above, the Secretary of State may, in prescribing a basis for apportionment under either of those paragraphs or in providing for apportionment under paragraph 3 above, have regard to the extent to which, in his opinion, either or both—
with any guidance issued by him, before the start of the year to which the expenditure relates, as to what that expenditure ought to be.’.
(2) Schedule 1 to the said Act of 1966 is set out as amended by this section in Schedule 1 to this Act.
2 Procedure under section 5 of the Local Government\(Scotland) Act 1966.
(1) In section 5 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1966 (reduction in certain circumstances of rate support grant and rates), after subsection (5) there shall be inserted the following subsection—
(5A) A report under subsection (1) above may relate to more than one local authority and, if a report so relating is approved by a resolution of the Commons House of Parliament, subsections (4) and (5) above shall, with the necessary modifications, apply in relation to the report.’.
(2) Sections 2 to 7 of the said Act of 1966 are set out as amended by this section in Schedule 1 to this Act.
3 Power of Secretary of State to control rates.
3. After section 108A of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973there shall be inserted the following sections—
108B ‘Power of Secretary of State to controlrate levels.
(1) The Secretary of State may, as respects the rates to be determined under section 108 of this Act by local authorities in respect of any financial year, by order prescribe—
(a ) the maximum amount by which those rates may be greater than; or
(b ) the minimum amount by which those rates shall be less than,
the rates so determined in respect of the immediately preceding financial year.
(2) Any amount prescribed under subsection (1) above—
(a ) may be expressed as a percentage;
(b ) shall be prescribed in relation to one or more of the following classes of rate, that is to say—
(i) the regional rate;
(ii) the general rate;
(iii) the district rate.
(3) The Secretary of State may, under subsections (1) and (2) above, prescribe differently in respect of the different classes of rate specified in the said subsection (2).
(4) Nil may be the amount prescribed under subsection (1) above.
(5) The Secretary of State shall, before making an order under this section, consult such associations of local authorities as appear to him to be concerned.
(6) A statutory instrument containing an order under this section shall not have effect until approved by a resolution of the Commons House of Parliament.
(7) If—
(a ) an order under this section has effect in relation to a local authority; and
(b ) the authority have not, by the date prescribed under section 108(1) of this Act, determined their rate in accordance with the order,
then the authority shall be deemed to have, on that date, determined the rate at which the maximum or, as the case may be, the minimum amount referred to in the order is exactly complied with.
(8) A reference in this Act (except section 108(1)) or in any other enactment, whether passed or made before or after the passing of this Act, to such rates as are determined under the said section 108 shall be construed as including such rates as are deemed to have been determined under subsection (7) above.
108C Derogations from rates control under section 108B.
(1) The Secretary of State may, on the application of a local authority, direct that nothing in an order under section 108B of this Act specified in the direction shall apply to the local authority.
(2) A direction under subsection (1) above may be made subject to such conditions as may be specified in it.
(3) An application under subsection (1) above shall be in such form and be accompanied by such information as the Secretary of State may direct.
(4) A direction made under this section may be revoked or amended by a further direction so made.’.
4 Consultation with non-domestic ratepayers.
4. In section 108 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973(determination of rates) there shall be inserted after subsection (2) the following subsections—
(3) Before determining a rate under this section, a local authority shall, in accordance with such procedure as the Secretary of State may direct—
(a ) make available to the persons mentioned in subsection (4) below such information as he may direct; and
(b ) consult those persons on that information and on the rate which the local authority propose to determine.
(4) The persons referred to in subsection (3) above are—
(a ) those liable to pay rates in respect of lands and heritages other than dwelling-houses (construed in accordance with section 7(3) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1966 ); and
(b ) bodies appearing to the local authority to be representative of persons so liable.
(5) A direction made under subsection (3) above may be revoked or amended by a further direction so made.
(6) The duty under subsection (3) above does not apply in relation to the determination of a rate under section 108A of this Act or section 5(4)(b ) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1966 or in relation to a deemed determination of a rate under the proviso to the said section 5(4)(b ) or under section 108B of this Act.’.
5 Premises qualifying for rates relief for institutionsfor the disabled.
(1) In section 5 of the Rating (Disabled Persons) Act 1978 (rate rebates for institutions for the disabled)—
(a ) in subsection (1) for the words from ‘and are’ onwards there shall be substituted the following—
‘if half or more of the floor area of so much of any building or, where there are more than one, those buildings as is comprehended in the lands and heritages is used exclusively for one or more of the purposes specified in subsection (2) below or purposes ancillary thereto, or is available so to be used.’;
(b ) for subsection (5) there shall be substituted the following subsections—
(5) The rebate under this section in respect of any lands and heritages shall be so much of the rates chargeable on the lands and heritages as is attributable to so much of the lands and heritages as is used exclusively for one or more of the purposes specified in subsection (2) above or purposes ancillary thereto or is available so to be used; and, where the lands and heritages qualify for rebate for part of a rebate period, the rebate shall be proportionately reduced.
(5A) For the purposes of calculating the rebate under this section, the assessor shall certify what amount of rateable value is attributable to so much of the lands and heritages as is used as mentioned in subsection (5) above or is available so to be used and, subject to subsection (7) below, the assessor's certificate shall be conclusive.’;
(c ) after subsection (6) there shall be inserted the following subsection—
(7) An appeal shall lie in respect of a certificate under subsection (5A) above and a complaint may be made about such a certificate in either case to the valuation appeal committee; and the provisions of the previous Valuation Acts relating to application to the assessor for redress, to appeals and complaints to the valuation appeal committee and to appeals from that committee to the Lands Valuation Appeal Court shall, with the necessary modifications. apply for the purposes of this subsection.’.
(2) In section 6 of the said Act of 1978 (administration and appeals)—
(a ) after subsection (5) there shall be inserted the following subsection—
(5A) A person who has been granted a rebate under section 5 of this Act but is nevertheless dissatisfied with the amount of rebate may appeal to the sheriff; and if the sheriff allows the appeal he may give the rating authority such direction as respects the matters mentioned in subsection (5) of that section as he thinks fit.’; and
(b ) in subsection (6) after the word ‘(5)’ there shall be inserted the words ‘or (5A)’.
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