To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how many people have been exempted from paying community charge (a) by each category of exemption, (b) in Leeds, West, and (c) in England and Wales.
The categories for which information is available are given in the table. No information is available for Leeds, West. Figures for Wales are a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.
| Estimated numbers exempt from community charges in England at 1 June 1990 | |
| Numbers | |
| Members of visiting forces, international headquarters and defence organisations and their dependants. Including diplomats | 40,000 |
| Severely mentally impaired | 97,000 |
Numbers
| |
| Aged 18 who attract child benefit because they are still at school, of aged 18 or 19 and on full-time courses of further, but not higher education | 179,000 |
| Full time students whose term time address is in Scotland or Northern Ireland | 2,500 |
| Members of religious communities | 11,000 |
| Patients whose main residence is in an NHS hospital | 42,000 |
| People whose sole or main residence is in a residential care home, a nursing home, a mental nursing home, a private hospital, or a hostel providing a substantial level of care, and who are also being treated or cared for in such an institution | 321,000 |
| Residential care workers employed at a very low salary | 1,500 |
| In detention | 45,000 |
| Total of categories listed | 739,000 |
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list for each local authority district area the latest figures on the number of premises liable for the standard community charge.
I am arranging for the available information to be placed in the Library of the House.Properties subject to a standard charge with a multiplier of zero are not included.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what monitoring is being undertaken by his Department on the operation of the rules relating to exemption from the poll tax for those suffering from severe mental impairment; and if he will make a statement.
My Department is in constant touch with local authorities on all aspects of the community charge. We also maintain close contact with officials in the Department of Health on issues relating to the exemption for persons with a severe mental impairment. Supplementary advice on the exemption was sent on 2 July 1990 to community charge registration officers and general medical practitioners from both Departments.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will publish the latest figures on the number of people who have been exempted from the poll tax due to (a) severe mental impairment, (b) residence in a hospital or home, (c) aged under 20 years at school or in further education, (d) membership of visiting forces, (e) persons in detention, (f) membership of a religious order, (g) homelessness and (h) others;(2) if he will publish his best estimates of the number of people classified as suffering from mental illness who have been granted poll tax exemption under the severe mental impairment provisions;(3) if he will publish his best estimates of the number of people classified as suffering from severe dementia who have been granted poll tax exemption under the severe mental impairment provisions.
The estimated numbers exempt from community charges in England at 1 June 1990 are as follows:
Number
| |
| Severely mentally impaired | 97,000 |
| Patients whose main residence is in an NHS hospital or people whose sole or main residence is in a residential care home, a nursing home, a mental nursing home, a private hospital, or a hostel providing a substantial level of care, and who are also being treated or cared for in such an institution | 363,000 |
| Aged 18 who attract child benefit because they are still at school, or aged 18 or 19 and on full-time courses of further, but not higher, education | 179,000 |
| In detention | 45,000 |
| Members of visiting forces, international headquarters and defence organisations and their dependants. Including diplomats | 40,000 |
| Members of religious communities | 11,000 |
| Persons without fixed abode or living in short stay hostels | n.a. |
| Residential care workers employed at a very low salary, and full time students whose term time address is in Scotland or Northern Ireland | 4,000 |
Note: Separate information is not available on the number of exemptions of people classified as suffering from severe dementia or mental illness.
n.a. Not available.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will (a) place copies in the Library of all material produced by his Department designed to promote awareness of the right to poll tax exemption for certain groups of people and (b) state the level of expenditure being incurred on such material; and if he will make a statement.
Copies of all departmental published material on exemptions from the personal community charge, including circular letters sent out to all community charges registration officers have been placed in the Library.The cost of producing this material has been approximately £1·2 million so far.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will seek to introduce legislation to prevent district councils from recovering poll tax debts from individual housing benefit allocations.
I have been asked to reply.Legislation does not provide for local authorities to recover arrears of community charge from housing benefit.