Vol. 468 No. 4
115 Miss Harney asked the Minister for Finance if he will give a breakdown of the payroll and overhead costs incurred by the Valuation Office and the revenue from fees paid by applicants in the most recent year for which figures are available; if he intends publishing an annual report of the Valuation Office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15856/96]
The cost of running the Valuation Office is provided for in the Vote for the Valuation Office and the Ordnance Survey. The 1995 Appropriation Account for this Vote indicated that the gross costs of running the Ordnance Survey in 1995 consisted of £3.404 million in respect of salaries and £836,000 in respect of other overheads, making a total cost of £4.240 million. This cost was offset by appropriations in aid of £435,000, which primarily represents the income from fees for revision applications and appeals.
The Valuation Office does not publish an annual report at the moment. However, it is considering this matter in the context of the Strategic Management Initiative.
116 Miss Harney asked the Minister for Finance the average time needed to process a request for both a revision and an appeal against a revision in the Valuation Office; if he will provide the information on a county by county basis for the most recent year for which figures are available; if he has satisfied himself that the average processing times are within guidelines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15857/96]
Given the short notice of the question, it has not been possible to calculate the precise averages requested.
The Commissioner is obliged to determine every revision request within six months or as soon as possible thereafter. The Valuation Office endeavours to deal with revision requests as soon as possible.
In practice, the time taken to process a revision request will vary depending on the nature and complexity of the request and the time of year in which it has been received in the Valuation Office.
Decisions by the Valuation Office on revision requests are issued quarterly i.e. in February, May, August and November. Irrespective of which quarterly issue date any revised valuation is issued on, that revised valuation does not become effective for rates purposes until 1 January of the following year. Revision requests received before 10 June are processed by the November issue date (i.e. such revision requests are generally processed within six months). For practical and operational reasons, revision requests made later in the year may take somewhat longer than six months to process. However, since a revised valuation would not be effective until 1 January after that same revised valuation has been issued, the ratepayer's liability would not be affected even if the processing of a revision request had taken somewhat longer than six months (i.e. the practical effect of a revised valuation issued in February after a six month wait is the same as the practical effect of a revised valuation issued in May after a nine month wait).
