Rates Act 1984

2 Designation of authorities

(1) The authority or authorities in whose case a maximum is to be prescribed under section 1 above for any financial year shall be designated by the Secretary of State in a report laid before the House of Commons in the preceding financial year; and on laying any such report the Secretary of State shall serve on the authority or, as the case may be, each of the authorities designated in it a notice stating that the authority has been so designated.

(2) The Secretary of State shall not in a report laid under subsection (1) above in any financial year designate an authority unless it appears to him from the best information available to him that its total expenditure in that year is likely—

(a) to exceed its grant-related expenditure for that year or £10 million, whichever is the greater; and

(b) to be excessive having regard to general economic conditions.

(3) If the total of relevant expenditure as estimated for the purposes of the Rate Support Grant Report for any financial year (other than the first) in which this section is in force is greater or smaller than the total of relevant expenditure as estimated for the purposes of the Rate Support Grant Report for the previous financial year, the Secretary of State shall by order substitute for the amount for the time being specified in subsection (2)(a) above (whether £10 million or an amount previously substituted under this subsection) an amount which is proportionately greater or smaller except that any substituted amount may be rounded to the nearest £100,000.

(4) The power to make an order under subsection (3) above shall be exercisable by statutory instrument subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of the House of Commons.

(5) The power to designate an authority shall be exercised in accordance with principles determined by the Secretary of State and, in the case of an authority falling within any of the classes specified in subsection (6) below, those principles shall be the same either for all authorities falling within that class or for all of them which respectively have and have not been designated under this section in the previous financial year.

(6) The classes referred to in subsection (5) above are—

(a) councils of metropolitan counties ;

(b) councils of non-metropolitan counties ;

(c) councils of metropolitan districts ;

(d) councils of non-metropolitan districts ;

(e) councils of inner London boroughs; and

(f) councils of outer London boroughs.

(7) Any report under subsection (1) above shall contain a statement of the principles in accordance with which the authority or authorities included in the report have been designated.

(8) Separate reports and orders may be made under this section in relation to England and Wales respectively.

(9) References in the following provision of this Part of this Act to a designated authority are to an authority designated under this section.