Covid-19: High Street Retailers Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Lord Shipley
Main Page: Lord Shipley (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Shipley's debates with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
Covid-19: High Street Retailers
Lord Shipley Excerpts(4 years, 6 months ago)
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Lord Callanan
The noble Lord is right to highlight the difficulties that many retailers are facing. There has been a big shift to online retailing as well—of course, many high street retailers do both—but we need to keep these matters under review. The high street is vital to many local communities, so we want to offer them as much support as possible.
Lord Shipley (LD) [V]
My Lords, does the Minister agree that a high street business rates system based on open market rental value is no longer fit for purpose? When will the new system be introduced? Will it be in the next financial year, because it is urgently needed?
Lord Callanan
The terms of reference for the review were published on 11 March in the Budget. On 28 April, the Treasury set out the timelines for the tax policy consultations in the light of the crisis, and the call for evidence for this fundamental review will be published in the coming months.