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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his department holds information on the number of local authorities which offer rural rate relief and in which locations.

Rural rate relief is a mandatory business rates relief so can be offered to eligible businesses by all authorities in England.

In 2024-25, 159 local authorities reported that they gave some rural rate relief. The data on the amount of rural rate relief given by these authorities can be found in ‘DatasheetPart3’ tab here.