Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will take steps to remove business rates for early years providers.

Business rates are a broad-based tax on the value of non-domestic properties, including nurseries.

To protect small businesses, the Government has frozen the small business multiplier for 2025-26. Taken together with Small Business Rates Relief, this intervention ensures that over a million properties will be protected from inflationary increases.

More broadly, in 2026-27, we expect to provide over £9.5 billion for the early years entitlements. We are investing over £1 billion more in the early years entitlements this year compared to 2025-26, to deliver a full year of the expanded entitlements, and an above inflation increase to entitlements funding rates.