Found: Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury and the Minister for Early Education on Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill

Found: SW1P 3BT 14 November 2024 Dear Florence Eshalomi MP , NON -DOMESTIC RATING (MULTIPLIERS AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS) BILL

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the debate on the Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill of 25 November 2024, Official Report, column 594, whether the Retail, Hospitality and Leisure multipliers from 2026 will (a) be in addition to and (b) replace the small business rate relief multipliers.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

To deliver our manifesto pledge, we intend to introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure properties, including those on the high-street, from 2026-27. This permanent tax cut will ensure they benefit from much-needed certainty and support. This tax cut must be sustainably funded, and so we intend to introduce a higher rate on the most valuable properties from 2026-27 - those with Rateable Values of £500,000 and above.

The government has no plans to abolish small business rates relief which is a permanent relief set down in legislation. In our paper 'Transforming Business Rates' we have committed to exploring whether and how small business rates relief can be improved to better support business investment and expansion.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 9 September 2024 to Question 2820 on Private Education: Business Rates, whether business rates will be levied on (a) nurseries and (b) pre-school premises affiliated with an independent school.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Non Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill will remove the eligibility for charitable rate relief from private schools that are charities in England. Standalone private nursery schools with their own rates bills are outside of the scope of the Bill and, where charities, will retain their relief. Private schools that provide education for pupils of compulsory school age but also have nursery classes within the school will lose their rate relief entirely unless the nursery classes are on separate premises with their own rates bill.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether SEND schools will be exempt from proposed changes to charitable business rate relief.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

Local authorities will continue to fund places at independent special schools for pupils who need them due to their education, health and care (EHC) plan and will be able to reclaim VAT applied to fees.

The Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill provides that private schools that are charities that wholly or mainly provide education for pupils with an EHC plan remain eligible for charitable rates relief. In business rates, wholly or mainly generally means more than 50%. In practice, the government believes that this will ensure most special schools, which predominantly serve pupils with EHC plans, will not be affected by the measure.

Private schools that benefit from the existing rates exemption for properties that are wholly used for the training or welfare of disabled people will continue to do so.

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill, what definition her Department is using of mainly, in the context of schools that are mainly concerned with the provision of education to children with an education, health and care plan.

Answered by Jim McMahon - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)

The Bill sets out that where a private school is wholly or mainly concerned with providing education for pupils with an Education, Health and Care plan they will be exempt from the measure and therefore retain eligibility for business rates charitable relief. The wholly or mainly test is one which is common across various parts of business rates and local authorities are accustomed to applying it. Wholly or mainly is generally taken to mean 50% or more.

Found: Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill 2024-25

Found: Today’s Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill means that new permanently lower multipliers