To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what guidance her Department has provided to local authorities on the use of bailiffs to collect council tax; and what assessment she has made of the implications for local authorities' use of bailiffs of her Department's plans to allow councils to transfer council tax debts from magistrates to county courts. (277027)

Communities and Local Government's predecessor Department the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister jointly published with the Government Operational Research Service a Council Tax Collection Good Practice Report in 2004. The report looks at ways of sharing good practice among practitioners, in order to promote continuous improvement in service delivery and collection. Annex D of the report covers the use of bailiffs.

The report is published on Communities and Local Government website at:

www.local.communities.gov.uk/finance/ctax/goodprac.pdf

I am working with the Ministry of Justice to look at new ways to collect and enforce council tax, in particular by allowing councils to transfer council tax debts from magistrates to county courts.