2 Business Policy and Strategy

2.1 Local Taxation

The Local Taxation business of the Valuation Office Agency is being modernised to secure fair, open, uniform and sustainable assessments for non- domestic rates (NDR) and council tax that are understandable and acceptable to all, and at the minimum necessary expense to the public purse and least possible inconvenience to the ratepayer and council taxpayer, whilst sustaining and promoting District Valuer Services.

The key stakeholders in the Local Taxation business are:

• the ratepayers and council taxpayers
• the Billing Authorities
• the DTLR/ NAW clients
• the Valuation Tribunal Service where litigation ensues
• the professional agents where instructed

The principal work programmes we have to deliver over the planning period include:

• programming the settlement of appeals lodged against the 2000 NDR Lists (and appeals received with effect from 1 April 2000 in respect of earlier Lists), all at a rate of progress acceptable to the business community. The programming system was successfully introduced during 2000/ 01 but programmes had to be substantially revisited because of foot and mouth disease. This led to a higher level of changes to programmes than planned.
• maintaining the 2000 NDR Lists by updating assessments as we become aware of changes to and construction of properties
• settling council tax appeals expeditiously, letting the appellant know our view on the correctness of their banding within two months
• maintaining the Council Tax Lists by updating bandings as a result of changes and providing bandings for new properties.

The volumes of work expected to be carried out, which will be subject to review after 2002/ 03, are shown in Annex C.

• a modernised NDR revaluation for 1.7m hereditaments, to come into force on 1 April 2005, with a greater initial acceptance of valuations and the more efficient resolution of appeals. This involves ensuring that ratepayers have access to information about the valuation process, for their own property and more widely:

  - their views on the emerging values are sought and weighed in the valuation process; we are testing out the concept of local ratepayer forums to involve representatives of ratepayers more in the valuation process

  - they are able to query or challenge the assessment with the VOA in most instances without the need for a professional intermediary

  - they are able and encouraged to deal with the Agency electronically

• a council tax revaluation for 22.3 million dwellings to come into force on 1 April 2005 (Wales) and 1 April 2007 (England). This will involve over the planning period ensuring that a revaluation process is developed which utilises electronic valuation systems and also engages the public interactively in the process so that council taxpayers are involved prior to publication of new lists in order to improve the transparency of the system, improve the acceptability of the new bandings and thereby keep the appeals rate to a low level.

The risks to their delivery comprise:

• the ability to agree the necessary funding with clients to cover the additional investment in better information and more transparency under modernisation
• the challenges scoping and successfully commissioning the IT required for a council tax revaluation in England
• the continuing high inflow of NDR appeals from such events as the impact of foot and mouth disease.

The Local Taxation business of the Valuation Office Agency is being modernised to secure fair, open, uniform and sustainable assessments for non domestic rates and council tax that are understandable and acceptable to all.

We plan to mitigate these risks by:

• keeping in close contact with our clients
• running efficiency plans to realise the improvements needed to fund investment in ourselves (see Section 5)
• investing early in planning the council tax revaluation in Wales and rapidly learning the lessons from what must perforce be a revaluation where IT provides the data but does not support the valuation judgement and apply that knowledge and experience to developing an IT system for the later revaluation in England which also supports valuation judgements
• by being business like and customer focused in all we do. And, in particular, engaging ratepayers and their agents in a dialogue, the better to understand their business requirements and model our processes accordingly, including investigating any possible changes to the NDR Regulations which might minimise expense and inconvenience for them and us
• working in teams and in partnerships with the rating profession so that we can actively programme the progression and settlement of all rating appeals

2.2 District Valuer Services

District Valuer Services in the Valuation Office Agency will be a business like and customer focused organisation that is efficient, competitive and which seeks to establish market leadership in valuation and property services where the public interest is involved by delivering a quality (fit for purpose) product. We will complete the process of ensuring that costs and income are matched and, over the planning period, grow the income from non- taxation work by about 10% each year. The key target set for 2002/ 03 is £14,8 million (as against the target set for 2001/ 02 of £13.5 million). This target will be reviewed in mid year in light of success with gaining new work so that, if necessary, the VOA's formal spending limits can be increased to reflect any additional activity. At the same time it will support the local taxation stream by providing up to date market knowledge and advice for Rating and Council Tax valuations.

We will continue to develop our expertise and as a model of business excellence provide:

• property advice in the UK that is both fair and impartial
• a multi- disciplinary and professional property consultancy
• a clear focus on client needs
• an expanding business with an effective marketing strategy
• the opportunity to develop partnerships and links with the private sector to enable joint ventures to be progressed.

The key stakeholders in District Valuer Services are:

• taxpayers and claimants
• the Inland Revenue to include Capital Taxes, Inspector of Taxes, and the new Risk Intelligence and Analysis Teams (RIATs)
• central government, local government and non departmental public body clients
• professional agents where instructed.

The professional services provided will in 2002/ 03:

• break even with full costs equal to fees;
• deliver valuations for the Inland Revenue which will have a value to the Agency of £13.6million;
• for the rest of the public sector, deliver valuations with a varied portfolio of work with a value of £14.8 million. We will continue to grow this area of work by 10% each year.

To achieve these key targets, District Valuer services will continue to review and improve all aspects of its management in line with the Excellence Model, complete process reviews in key areas, work in teams to exploit effectively the complementary skills of our staff and invest in training to bring forward the culture of effective leadership and development for all staff. Time recording systems will be made universal from April 2002 and will ensure that costs are properly monitored and an efficient service provided to clients with appropriate outcomes at an acceptable cost. A clear marketing strategy will be developed during 2002/ 03 and existing service level agreements will be reviewed. A client satisfaction survey - due to report early in the year - will provide a baseline that will benchmark continuous improvement. We will also, where possible, establish and develop partnerships and links with the private sector.