The minutes of the meeting held on 17 March 2016 were signed by the Chair.

No declarations of interest were made.

The Service Manager Revenues & Benefits and Assistant Manager Local Taxation provided Members of the Committee with an update on future changes to Business Rates.

The Service Manager Revenues & Benefits explained that the council is currently engaged in three Government consultations:

·         Changes to discounts and exemptions

·         100% Business Rates Retention

·         Reforming the business rates appeals process

In October 2015, the Government announced that, by the end of the Parliament,

local government will keep 100% of the income raised through business rates,

and they will be expected to take on new responsibilities to be funded from this additional income as

central government grants are phased out.

Under the current scheme, Local authorities will be compensated in full for their loss of income as a result of changes to discounts and exemptions. This compensation will be paid in the same way is it has been previously, by section 31 grant, and calculated on the basis of the returns that councils make under the rates retention scheme.

From 2017-18, Small Business Rate Relief will permanently double from 50% to 100%. The £6,000 and £12,000 thresholds will increase to £12,000 and £15,000 respectively. Therefore, those with rateable values below £12,000 that meet the eligibility criteria will receive 100% relief and those with rateable values between £12,000 and £15,000 will receive tapered relief.

The threshold for the standard business rates multiplier will also increase from £18,000 (£25,500 in London) to a rateable value of £51,000. Both the doubling and the extension of SBRR will be compensated by grants from central government.

The Government will introduce a £1,500 discount for office space occupied by local newspapers, up to a maximum of one discount per local newspaper title and per hereditament, and up to state aid limits, for 2 years from 1 April 2017.

The Government will legislate to enable local authorities to use their existing discretionary relief powers to support publicly owned public toilets from 1 April 2018.

From April 2020, bills will be indexed to the main measure of inflation, currently CPI.

The Government will aim to deliver more frequent revaluations - at least every 3 years - and will publish a discussion paper on delivering this shortly.

The Government will work with local authorities across England to standardise business rate bills and ensure ratepayers have the option to receive and pay bills electronically by April 2017. By 2022, local authority business rate systems will be linked to HMRC digital tax accounts. GBC has already addressed this area.

100% Business Rates Retention:

Key changes will include:

·         Ensuring the system is designed to encourage and reward councils that promote and support economic growth in their areas

·         Ensuring a system of redistribution of funding that recognises the needs and demands of different councils, including in cases where there are combined authorities and mayoral areas

·         Measures to manage risk within the system, including the improved management of appeals

·         Ability to reduce the business rates tax rate (the multiplier) and the ability for Combined Authority Mayors to levy a supplement  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

The Corporate Performance Manager presented Members of the Performance and Administration Committee with an update against the Performance Management Framework, as set out within the council’s Corporate Plan 2015-19, for Quarter One 2016-17 (April to June 2016).

The Corporate Change Manager explained that new targets have been established for 2016-17 that, using data from 2015-16, are better profiled and will enable more accurate analysis and scrutiny.

The Director (Corporate Services) highlighted the following:

·         The new Council website will go live (soft launch) on 12 September 2016, the Digital Team will then see if there are any issues before the ‘hard launch’.

·         The Internal Audit and Fraud shared service has generated a saving of £66,000, the target was £58,000. This has therefore been delivered with increased budget savings and the performance has been maintained, if not improved.

The Committee commended and noted the new performance management framework system and the content of Appendix Two to the report.