Council Tax Revaluation

Mrs. Spelman
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what changes the Valuation Office Agency has made to the (a) number and (b) type of individual (i) value significant codes and (ii) dwelling house codes since the decision to delay the council tax revaluation in England.

Mr. Woolas
None.

Mrs. Spelman
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the (a) titles and (b) dates of publication were of the council tax instructions and advice notes and associated documents issued by the Valuation Office Agency to assist staff since January 2005.

Mr. Woolas
Since January 2005 the Valuation Office Agency has issued two council tax instructions and advice (IA’s):

CT IA 010905—Council tax completion notice. This was issued on 1 September 2005.

CT IA 241005—Recording and inputting property details as part of council tax maintenance and appeals work. This was issued on the 24 October 2005.

Mrs. Spelman
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether the valuation tribunal service made an estimate in England of the number of council tax valuation appeals that would arise as a consequence of the council tax revaluation in England prior to its postponement.

Mr. Woolas
The VTS estimated that there might be 1 million appeals from the revaluation, of which it was estimated 50,000 would require a hearing before a formal valuation tribunal panel.

Mrs. Spelman
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what the anticipated cost was to the Valuation Tribunal Service of the council tax revaluation in England, prior to its postponement.

Mr. Woolas
The Valuation Tribunal Service estimated at around £l million the cost of developing their systems to handle appeals arising from the revaluation and for additional training for valuation tribunal members on the revaluation.